"    'THE    PAIR    A.VD     SOMETf.WES     UNCERTAIN     DAUGHTER 
OF  THE  HOUSE   OF  MILKREY." 

(See  page  182.) 


THE 


SPENDERS 


A     TALE   OF   THE   THIRD 
•"•    GENERATION 


BY 

HARRY    LEON    WILSON 

Illustrated    by 
O'NEILL     LATHAM 


r 

3 


LOTHROP    PUBLISHING 
COMPANY       •       BOSTON 


. 


COPYRIGHT, 
1902,  BY 

L  O  T  H  R  O  P 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY. 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 

ENTERED    AT    STATIONERS* 
HALL 


Published    May,    1902 


toth   Thousand. 


To 

L.    L.    J. 


FOREWORD 

nr^HE  wanderers  of  earth   turned  to  her  —  outcast  of  the 

-*•       older  lands  — 
With  a  promise  and  hope  in  their  pleading,  and  she  reached 

them  pitying  hands  ; 
And   she  cried   to  the  Old-World  cities    that  drowse   by  the 

Eastern  main  : 
"  Send  me  your  weary,  house-worn  broods  and  I'll  send  you 

Men  again ! 
Lo,  here  in  my  wind-swept  reaches,  by  my  marshalled  peaks 

of  snow, 
Is  room  for  a  larger  reaping  than  your  o'ertilled   fields  can 

grow. 
Seed  of  the  Main  Seed  springing  to  stature  and  strength  in 

my  sun, 
Free  with  a  limitless  freedom  no  battles  of  men  have  won." 


TTT^OR  men,  like  the  grain  of  the  corn-fields,  grow  small  in  the 

-•-        huddled  crowd, 

And  weak  for  the  breath  of  spaces  where  a  soul  may  speak 
aloud  ; 

For  hills,  like  stairways  to  heaven,  shaming  the  level  track, 

And  sick  with  the  clang  of  pavements  and  the  marts  of  the 
trafficking  pack. 

Greatness  is  born  of  greatness,  and  breadth  of  a  breadth  pro 
found  ; 

The  old  Antasan  fable  of  strength  renewed  from  the  ground 

Was  a  human  truth  for  the  ages ;  since  the  hour  of  the  Eden- 
birth 

That  man  among  men  was  strongest  who  stood  with  his  feet 
on  the  earth ! 

SHARLOT  MABRIDTH  HALL. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Second  Generation  Is  Removed      .         .       n 
//.  How  the  First  Generation   Once  Righted  It 
self      17 

///.  Billy  Brue  Finds  His  Man  .         .         .         .25 

IV.  The  West  Against  the  East ....       34 

V.  Over  the  Hills 45 

VI.  A   Meeting  and  a  Clashing    ....       53 

VII.  The  Rapid-fire  Lorgnon  Is  Spiked         .         .       65 

VIII.  Up  Skip  lap   Canon 75 

IX.  Three  Letters,  Private  and  Confidential        .       85 

X.  The  Price  of  Averting  a  Scandal          .         .105 

XI.  How  Uncle  Peter  Bines  Once  Cut  Loose       .     1 1 6 

XII.  Plans  for  the  Journey   East  .         .         .         .125 

XIII.  The  Argonauts  Return  to  the  Rising  Sun    .     134 

XIV.  Mr.    Higbee     Communicates    Some    Valuable 

Information          .         .         .         .         .         .143 

XV.  Sonic  Light   With  a   Few  Side-lights     .         .     152 

XVI.  With  the  Barbaric  Hosts        .         .  .167 

XVII.  The  Patricians  Entertain       .         .         .         .180 

XVIII.  The  Course  of  True  Love  at  a  House  Party     195 

XIX.  An  Afternoon  Stroll  and  an  Evening  Catas 

trophe  ...  ....     204 

XX.  Doctor    Von    Herzlich    Expounds    the    High- 

tower  Hotel  and  Cerfain  Allied  Phenomena     218 

XXI.  The  Diversions  of  a    Young  Multi-millionaire     232 

XXII.  The  Distressing  Adventure  of  Mrs.  Bines     .     247 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGH 

XXIII.  The  Summer  Campaign  Is  Planned        .     262 

XXIV.  The  Sight  of  a   New  Beauty,  and  Some 

Advice  from  Higbee       .         .         .         .274 

XXV.  Horace   Milbrey   Upholds   the   Dignify  of 

His  House 287 

XXVI.  A    Hot  Day  in   New    York,   with    News 

of  an  Interesting  Marriage  .         .         .301 

XXVII.  A  Sensational  Turn  in  the  Milbrey  For 

tunes      .         .         .         .         .         .         -313 

XXVIII.  Uncle  Peter  Bines  Comes  to  Town   With 

His  Man 326 

XXIX.  Uncle    Peter   Bines    Threatens    to    Raise 

Something      .         .         .         .         .         -337 

XXX.  Uncle   Peter   Inspires   His   Grandson    to 

Worthy  Ambitions         .         .         .         -34s 

XXXI.  Concerning  Consolidated  Copper  and  Peter 

Bines  as  Matchmakers  .         .         .361 

XXXII.  Devotion  to  Business  and  a  Chance  Meet 

ing  •         •  ...  376 

XXXIII.  The  Amateur  Napoleon  of  Wall  Street  392 

XXXIV.  How  the   Chinook   Came  to    Wall  Street  404 

XXXV.  The  News  Broken,    Whereupon   an   En 

gagement  Is  Broken       .         .         .         .419 

XXXVI.  The  God  in  the  Machine          .         .         .432 

XXXVII.  The    Departure    of    Uncle    Peter— And 

Some  German  Philosophy      .         .         .  448 

XXXVIII.  Some  Plienomena  Peculiar  to  Spring      .  461 

XXXIX.  An  Unusual  Plan  of  Action  Is  Matured  471 
XL.                  Some   Rude   Behaviour,   of  Which    Only 

a   Western  Man   Could  Be  Guilty        .     480 
XLI.  The  New  Argonauts         .  .         .500 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


"  The  fair   and  sometimes  uncertain   daughter   of  the 

house  of  Milbrey  "  .         .         .         .         .         Frontispiece 

"'  Well,  Billy  Bruc,  -what's  doin'?'1"  ....        28 

"  The  spell  was  broken  "        .         .         .         .         .         .258 

"  '  Why,  you'd  be  Lady  Casselthorpe,  urith  dukes  and 

counts  takiii1  off  tiieir  crowns  to  you"1"*  .  .  373 

"  '  Remember  that  saying  of  your  pa^s,  "  //  takes  all 

kinds  of  fools  to  make  a  world"  .  .  .  422 

"  '  Say  it  that  way  —  "  Miss  Milbrey  is  engaged  with 

Mr.  Sines,  and  carft  see  you  "  '  "  .         .         .         .     492 


THE  SPENDERS 

CHAPTER    I. 

The   Second  Generation  is  Removed 

WHEN  Daniel  J.  Bines  died  of  apoplexy  in 
his  private  car  at  Kaslo  Junction  no  one 
knew  just  where  to  reach  either  his  old 
father  or  his  young  son  with  the  news  of  his 
death.  Somewhere  up  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Sierras  the  old  man  would  be  leading,  as  he  had 
long  chosen  to  lead  each  summer,  the  lonely  life 
of  a  prospector.  The  young  man,  two  years  out 
of  Harvard,  and  but  recently  back  from  an  extended 
European  tour,  was  at  some  point  on  the  North 
Atlantic  coast,  beginning  the  season's  pursuit  of 
happiness  as  he  listed. 

Only  in  a  land  so  young  that  almost  the  present 
dwellers  therein  have  made  it  might  we  find 
individualities  which  so  decisively  failed  to  blend. 
So  little  congruous  was  the  family  of  Bines  in  root, 
branch,  and  blossom,  that  it  might,  indeed,  be 
taken  to  picture  an  epic  of  Western  life  as  the 

ii 


12  THE    SPENDERS 

romancer  would  tell  it.  First  of  the  line  stands 
the  figure  of  Peter  Bines,  the  pioneer,  contemporary 
with  the  stirring  days  of  Fremont,  of  Kit  Carson, 
of  Harney,  and  Bridger ;  the  fearless  strivers  toward 
an  ever-receding  West,  fascinating  for  its  untried 
dangers  as  for  its  fabled  wealth,  —  the  sturdy, 
grave  men  who  fought  and  toiled  and  hoped, 
and  realised  in  varying  measure,  but  who  led  in 
sober  truth  a  life  such  as  the  colours  of  no  tale 
teller  shall  ever  be  high  enough  to  reproduce. 

Next  came  Daniel  J.  Bines,  a  type  of  the  builder 
and  organiser  who  followed  the  trail  blazed  by  the 
earlier  pioneer;  the  genius  who,  finding  the  magic 
realm  opened,  forthwith  became  its  exploiter  to 
its  vast  renown  and  his  own  large  profit,  coining 
its  wealth  of  minerals,  lumber,  cattle,  and  grain, 
and  adventurously  building  the  railroads  that  must 
always  be  had  to  drain  a  new  land  of  savagery. 

Nor  would  there  be  wanting  a  third  —  a  figure 
of  this  present  day,  containing,  in  potency  at  least, 
the  stanch  qualities  of  his  two  rugged  forbears,  - 
the  venturesome  spirit  that  set  his  restless  grandsire 
to  roving  westward,  the  power  to  group  and  coordi 
nate,  to  "  think  three  moves  ahead "  which  had 
made  his  father  a  man  of  affairs ;  and,  further,  he 
had  something  modern  of  his  own  that  neither  of 
the  others  possessed,  and  yet  which  came  as  the 
just  fruit  of  the  parent  vine :  a  disposition  per 
haps  a  bit  less  strenuous,  turning  back  to  the  risen 
rather  than  forward  to  the  setting  sun;  a  tendency 
to  rest  a  little  from  the  toil  and  tumult ;  to  culti- 


THE    SPENDERS  13 

vate  some  graces  subtler  than  those  of  adven 
ture  and  commercialism ;  to  make  the  most  of 
what  had  been  done  rather  than  strain  to  the  doing 
of  needless  more ;  to  live,  in  short,  like  a  phi 
losopher  and  a  gentleman  who  has  more  golden 
dollars  a  year  than  either  philosophers  or  gentle 
men  are  wont  to  enjoy. 

And  now  the  central  figure  had  gone  suddenly 
at  the  age  of  fifty-two,  after  the  way  of  certain 
men  who  are  quick,  ardent,  and  generous  in  their 
living.  From  his  luxurious  private  car,  lying  on 
the  side-track  at  the  dreary  little  station,  Toler, 
private  secretary  to  the  millionaire,  had  telegraphed 
to  the  headquarters  of  one  important  railway  com 
pany  the  death  of  its  president,  and  to  various 
mining,  milling,  and  lumbering  companies  the 
death  of  their  president,  vice-president,  or  manag 
ing  director  as  the  case  might  be.  For  the  widow 
and  only  daughter  word  of  the  calamity  had  gone 
to  a  mountain  resort  not  far  from  the  family  home 
at  Montana  City. 

There  promised,  to  be  delay  in  reaching  the 
other  two.  The  son  would  early  read  the  news, 
Toler  decided,  unless  perchance  he  were  off  at  sea, 
since  the  death  of  a  figure  like  Bines  \vould  be  told 
by  every  daily  newspaper  in  the  country.  He  tele 
graphed,  however,  to  the  young  man's  New  York 
apartments  and  to  a  Newport  address,  on  the  chance 
of  finding  him. 

Locating  old  Peter  Bines  at  this  season  of  the 
year  was  a  feat  never  lightly  to  be  undertaken, 


H  THE    SPENDERS 

nor  for  any  trivial  end.  It  being  now  the  loth  of 
June,  it  could  be  known  with  certainty  only  that 
in  one  of  four  States  he  was  prowling  through  some 
wooded  canon,  toiling  over  a  windy  pass,  or  scaling 
a  mountain  sheerly,  in  his  ancient  and  best  loved 
sport  of  prospecting.  Knowing  his  habits,  the 
rashest  guesser  would  not  have  attempted  to  say 
more  definitely  where  the  old  man  might  be. 

The  most  promising  plan  Toler  could  devise 
was  to  wire  the  superintendent  of  the  "  One  Girl  " 
Mine  at  Skiplap.  The  elder  Bines,  he  knew,  had 
passed  through  Skiplap  about  June  ist,  and  had  left, 
perhaps,  some  inkling  of  his  proposed  route;  if 
it  chanced,  indeed,  that  he  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  propose  one. 

Pangburn,  the  mine  superintendent,  on  receipt 
of  the  news,  despatched  five  men  on  the  search  in 
as  many  different  directions.  The  old  man  was 
now  seventy-four,  and  Pangburn  had  noted  when 
last  they  met  that  he  appeared  to  be  somewhat 
less  agile  and  vigorous  than  he  had  been  twenty 
years  before;  from  which  it  was  fair  to  reason 
that  he  might  be  playing  his  solitary  game  at  a 
leisurely  pace,  and  would  have  tramped  no  great 
distance  in  the  ten  days  he  had  been  gone.  The 
searchers,  therefore,  were  directed  to  beat  up  the 
near-by  country.  To  Billy  Brue  was  allotted  the 
easiest  as  being  the  most  probable  route.  He  was 
to  follow  up  Paddle  Creek  to  Four  Forks,  thence 
over  the  Bitter  Root  trail  to  Eden,  on  to  Oro  Fino, 
and  up  over  Little  Pass  to  Hellandgone.  He  was 


THE    SPENDERS  15 

to  proceed  slowly,  to  be  alert  for  signs  along  the 
way,  and  to  make  inquiries  of  all  he  met. 

"  You're  likely  to  get  track  of  Uncle  Peter," 
said  Pangburn,  "  over  along  the  west  side  of 
Horseback  Ridge,  just  beyond  Eden.  When  he 
pulled  out  he  was  talking  about  some  likely  float- 
rock  he'd  picked  up  over  that  way  last  summer. 
You'd  ought  to  make  that  by  to-morrow,  seeing 
you've  got  a  good  horse  and  the  trail's  been  mended 
this  spring.  Now  you  spread  yourself  out,  Billy, 
and  when  you  get  on  to  the  Ridge  make  a  special 
look  all  around  there." 

Besides  these  directions  and  the  telegram  from 
Toler,  Billy  Brue  took  with  him  a  copy  of  the 
Skiplap  Weekly  Ledge,  damp  from  the  press  and 
containing  the  death  notice  of  Daniel  J.  Bines,  a 
notice  sent  out  by  the  News  Association,  which 
Billy  Brue  read  with  interest  as  he  started  up  the 
trail.  The  item  concluded  thus : 

"  The  young  and  beautiful  Mrs.  Bines,  who  had  been 
accompanying  her  husband  on  his  trip  of  inspection  over  the 
Sierra  Northern,  is  prostrated  with  grief  at  the  shock  of  his 
sudden  death." 

Billy  Brue  mastered  this  piece  of  intelligence 
after  six  readings,  but  he  refrained  from  comment, 
beyond  thanking  God,  in  thought,  that  he  could 
mind  his  own  business  under  excessive  provocation 
to  do  otherwise.  He  considered  it  no  meddling, 
however,  to  remember  that  Mrs.  Daniel  J.  Bines, 
widow  of  his  late  employer,  could  appear  neither 


1 6  THE    SPENDERS 

young  nor  beautiful  to  the  most  sanguine  of  news- 
gatherers;  nor  to  remember  that  he  happened  to 
know  she  had  not  accompanied  her  husband  on  his 
last  trip  of  inspection  over  the  Kaslo  Division  of 
the  Sierra  Northern  Railway. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PIoiv  the  First   Generation   Once  Righted  Itself 

BY  some  philosophers  unhappiness  is  believed 
-  -  rather  than  coming  from  deprivation  or 
infliction  —  to  result  from  the  individual's 
failure  to  select  from  a  number  of  possible  occu 
pations  one  that  would  afford  him  entire  satis 
faction  with  life  and  himself.  To  this  perverse 
blindness  they  attribute  the  dissatisfaction  with 
great  wealth  traditional  of  men  who  have  it.  The 
fault,  they  contend,  is  not  with  wealth  inherently. 
The  most  they  will  admit  against  money  is  that 
the  possession  of  much  of  it  tends  to  destroy  that 
judicial  calm  necessary  to  a  \vise  choice  of  recrea 
tions;  to  incline  the  possessor,  perhaps,  toward 
those  that  are  unsalutary. 

Concerning  the  old  man  that  Billy  Brue  now 
sought  with  his  news  of  death,  a  philosopher  of 
this  school  would  unhesitatingly  declare  that  he 
had  sounded  the  last  note  of  human  wisdom.  Far 
up  in  some  mountain  solitude  old  Peter  Bines, 
multimillionaire,  with  a  lone  pack-mule  to  bear 
his  meagre  outfit,  picked  up  float-rock,  tapped  and 
scanned  ledges,  and  chipped  at  boulders  with  the 

17 


1 8  THE    SPENDERS 

same  ardour  that  had  fired  him  in  his  penniless 
youth. 

Back  in  1850,  a  young  man  of  twenty- four,  he 
had  joined  the  rush  to  California,  working  his 
passage  as  deck-hand  on  a  vessel  that  doubled  the 
Horn.  Landing  without  capital  at  San  Francisco, 
the  little  seaport  settlement  among  the  shifting 
yellow  sand-dunes,  he  had  worked  six  weeks  along 
the  docks  as  roustabout  for  money  to  take  him 
back  into  the  hills  whence  came  the  big  fortunes 
and  the  bigger  tales  of  fortunes.  For  six  years 
he  worked  over  the  gravelly  benches  of  the  Cali 
fornia  creeks  for  vagrant  particles  of  gold.  Then, 
in  the  late  fifties,  he  joined  a  mad  stampede  to 
the  Frazer  River  gold-fields  in  British  Columbia. 
Thence,  in  the  sixties,  the  mining  world  being 
still  wild  over  its  first  knowledge  of  silver  sul- 
phurets,  he  wras  drawn  back  by  the  wonder-tales 
of  the  Comstock  lode. 

Joining  the  bedraggled  caravan  over  the  Carson 
trail,  he  continued  his  course  of  bitter  hardship  in 
the  Washoe  Valley.  From  a  patch  of  barren 
sun-baked  rock  and  earth,  three  miles  long  and 
a  third  of  a  mile  wide,  high  up  on  the  eastern 
slope  of  Mount  Davidson,  he  beheld  more  millions 
taken  out  than  the  wildest  enthusiast  had  ever 
before  ventured  to  dream  of.  But  Peter  Bines  was 
a  luckless  unit  of  the  majority  that  had,  perforce, 
to  live  on  the  hope  produced  by  others'  findings. 
The  time  for  his  strike  had  not  come. 

For  ten  years  more,  half-clad  in  flannel  shirt  and 


THE    SPENDERS  19 

overalls,  he  lived  in  flimsy  tents,  tattered  canvas 
houses,  and  sometimes  holes  in  the  ground.  One 
abode  of  luxury,  long  cherished  in  memory,  was 
a  ten-by-twelve  redwood  shanty  on  Feather  River. 
It  not  only  boasted  a  window,  but  there  was  a 
round  hole  in  the  "  shake  "  roof,  fastidiously  cut 
to  fit  a  stove-pipe.  That  he  never  possessed  a 
stove-pipe  had  made  this  feature  of  the  architec 
ture  not  less  sumptuous  and  engaging.  He  lived 
chiefly  on  salt  pork  and  beans,  cooked  over  smoky 
camp-fires. 

Through  it  all  he  was  the  determined,  eager, 
confident  prospector,  never  for  an  instant  prey  to 
even  the  suggestion  of  a  doubt  that  he  would  not 
shortly  be  rich.  Whether  he  washed  the  golden 
specks  from  the  sand  of  a  sage-brush  plain,  or 
sought  the  mother-ledge  of  some  wandering  golden 
child,  or  dug  with  his  pick  to  follow  a  promising 
surface  lead,  he  knew  it  to  be  only  the  matter 
of  time  when  his  day  should  dawn.  He  was  of 
the  make  that  wears  unbending  hope  as  its  birth 
right. 

Some  day  the  inexhaustible  placer  would  be 
found;  or,  on  a  mountainside  where  the  porphyry 
was  stained,  he  would  carelessly  chip  off  a  fragment 
of  rock,  turn  it  up  to  the  sun,  and  behold  it  rich 
in  ruby  silver;  or,  some  day,  the  vein  instead  of 
pinching  out  would  widen ;  there  would  be  pay 
ore  almost  from  the  grass-roots  —  rich,  yellow, 
free-milling  gold,  so  that  he  could  put  up  a  little 
arastra,  beat  out  enough  in  a  week  to  buy  a 
small  stamp-mill,  and  then,  in  six  months  — 


20  THE    SPENDERS 

Ten  years  more  of  this  fruitless  but  nourishing 
certainty  were  his,  —  ten  years  of  the  awful  soli 
tudes,  shared  sometimes  by  his  hardy  and  equally 
confident  wife,  and,  at  the  last,  by  his  boy,  who 
had  become  old  enough  to  endure  with  his  father 
the  snow  and  ice  of  the  mountain  tops  and  the 
withering  heat  of  the  alkali  wastes. 

Footsore,  hungry  most  of  the  time,  alternately 
burned  and  frozen,  he  lived  the  life  cheerfully  and 
tirelessly,  with  an  enthusiasm  that  never  faltered. 

When  his  clay  came  it  brought  no  surprise,  so 
freshly  certain  had  he  kept  of  its  coming  through 
the  twenty  years  of  search. 

At  his  feet,  one  July  morning  in  1870,  he  noticed 
a  piece  of  dark-stained  rock  in  a  mass  of  drift- 
stones.  So  small  was  it  that  to  have  gone  a  few 
feet  to  either  side  would  have  been  to  miss  it. 
He  picked  it  up  and  examined  it  leisurely.  It 
was  rich  in  silver. 

Somewhere,  then,  between  him  and  the  moun 
tain  top  was  the  parent  stock  from  which  this 
precious  fragment  had  been  broken.  The  sun 
beat  hotly  upon  him  as  it  had  on  other  clays 
through  all  the  hard  years  when  certainty,  after  all, 
was  nothing  more  than  a  temperamental  faith.  All 
day  he  climbed  and  searched  methodically,  stopping 
at  noon  to  eat  with  an  appetite  unaffected  by  his 
prospect. 

At  sunset  he  would  have  stopped  for  the  day, 
camping  on  the  spot.  He  looked  above  to  estimate 
the  ground  he  could  cover  on  the  morrow. 


THE    SPENDERS  21 

Almost  in  front  of  him,  a  few  yards  up  the 
mountainside,  he  looked  squarely  at  the  mother 
of  his  float :  a  huge  boulder  of  projecting  silicate. 
It  was  there. 

During  the  following  week  he  ascertained  the 
dimensions  of  his  vein  of  silver  ore,  and  located 
two  claims.  He  named  them  "  The  Stars  and 
Stripes  "  and  "  The  American  Boy,"  paying  thereby 
what  he  considered  tributes,  equally  deserved,  to 
his  native  land  and  to  his  only  son,  Daniel,  in 
whom  were  centred  his  fondest  hopes. 

A  year  of  European  travel  had  followed  for  the 
family,  a  year  of  spending  the  new  money  lavishly 
for  strange,  long-dreamed-of  luxuries  —  a  year  in 
which  the  money  was  joyously  proved  to  be  real. 
Then  came  a  year  of  tentative  residence  in  the  East. 
That  year  was  less  satisfactory.  The  novelty  of 
being  sufficiently  fed,  clad,  and  sheltered  was  losing 
its  fine  edge. 

Penniless  and  constrained  to  a  life  of  privation, 
Peter  Bines  had  been  strangely  happy.  Rich  and 
of  consequence  in  a  community  where  the  ways 
were  all  of  pleasantness  and  peace,  Peter  Bines 
became  restless,  discontented,  and,  at  last,  unmis 
takably  miserable. 

"  It  can't  be  because  I'm  rich,"  he  argued;  "  it's 
a  sure  thing  my  money  can't  keep  me  from  doin' 
jest  what  I  want  to  do." 

Then  a  suspicion  pricked  him ;  for  he  had,  in 
his  years  of  solitude,  formed  the  habit  of  consider 
ing,  in  a  leisurely  and  hospitable  manner,  even  the 


22  THE   SPENDERS 

reverse  sides  of  propositions  that  are  commonly 
accepted  by  men  without  question. 

'"'  The  money  can't  prevent  me  from  doin'  what 
I  jest  want  to  —  certain  —  but,  maybe,  don't  it? 
If  I  didn't  have  it  I'd  fur  sure  be  back  in  the 
hills  and  happy,  and  so  would  Evalina,  that  ain't 
had  hardly  what  you  could  call  a  good  day  since 
we  made  the  strike." 

On  this  line  of  reasoning  it  took  Peter  Bines 
no  long  time  to  conclude  that  he  ought  now  to 
enjoy  as  a  luxury  what  he  had  once  been  con 
strained  to  as  a  necessity. 

"  Even  when  I  was  poor  and  had  to  hit  the 
trail  I  jest  loved  them  hills,  so  why  ain't  it  crafty 
to  pike  back  to  'em  now  when  I  don't  have  to?" 

His  triumphant  finale  was  : 

"  When  you  come  to  think  about  it,  a  rich  man 
ain't  really  got  any  more  excuse  fur  bein'  mis'able 
than  a  poor  man  has !  " 

Back  to  the  big  hills  that  called  him  had  he  gone ; 
away  from  the  cities  where  people  lived  "  too  close 
together  and  too  far  apart ;  "  back  to  the  green, 
rough  earth  where  the  air  was  free  and  quick  and 
a  man  could  see  a  hundred  miles,  and  the  people 
lived  far  enough  apart  to  be  neighbourly. 

There  content  had  blessed  him  again;  content 
not  slothful  but  inciting;  a  content  that  embraced 
his  own  beloved  West,  fashioning  first  in  fancy 
and  then  by  deed,  its  own  proud  future.  He  had 
never  ceased  to  plan  and  stimulate  its  growth.  He 
not  only  became  one  with  its  manifold  interests,  but 


THE    SPENDERS  23 

proudly  dedicated  the  young  Daniel  to  its  further 
making.  He  became  an  ardent  and  bigoted  West 
erner,  with  a  scorn  for  the  East  so  profound  that 
no  Easterner's  scorn  for  the  West  hath  ever  by 
any  chance  equalled  it. 

Prospecting  with  the  simple  outfit  of  old  became 
his  relaxation,  his  sport,  and,  as  he  aged,  his  hobby. 
•It  was  said  that  he  had  exalted  prospecting  to  the 
dignity  of  an  art,  and  no  longer  hunted  gold  as  a 
pot-hunter.  He  wras  even  reputed  to  have  valuable 
deposits  "  covered,"  and  certain  it  is  that  after 
Creede  made  his  rich  find  on  Mammoth  Mountain 
in  1890,  Peter  Bines  met  him  in  Denver  and  gave 
him  particulars  about  the  vein  which  as  yet  Creede 
had  divulged  to  no  one.  Questioned  later  concern 
ing  this,  Peter  Bines  evaded  answering  directly,  but 
suggested  that  a  man  who  already  had  plenty  of 
money  might  have  done  wisely  to  cover  up  the  find 
and  be  still  about  it;  that  Nat  Creede  himself 
proved  as  much  by  going  crazy  over  his  wealth  and 
blowing  out  his  brains. 

To  a  tamely  prosperous  Easterner  who,  some 
years  after  his  return  to  the  West,  made  the  con 
ventional  remark,  "  And  isn't  it  amazing  that 
you  were  happy  through  those  hard  years  of  toil 
when  you  were  so  poor?  "  Peter  Bines  had  replied, 
to  his  questioner's  hopeless  bewilderment :  "  No. 
But  it  is  surprisin'  that  I  kept  happy  after  I  got 
rich  —  after  I  got  what  I  wanted. 

"  I  reckon  you'll  find,"  he  added,  by  way  of 
explaining,  "  that  the  proportion  of  happy  rich  to 


24  THE    SPENDERS 

unhappy  rich  is  a  mighty  sight  smaller  than  the 
proportion  of  happy  poor  to  the  unhappy  poor.  I'm 
one  of  the  former  minority,  all  right,  —  but,  by 
Gripes!  it's  because  I  know  how  to  be  rich  and 
still  enjoy  all  the  little  comforts  of  poverty !  " 


CHAPTER    III. 

Billy  Brue  Finds  His  Man 

EACH  spring  the  old  man  grew  restive  and 
raw  like  an  unbroken  colt.  And  when  the 
distant  mountain  peaks  began  to  swim  in 
their  summer  haze,  and  the  little  rushing  rivers 
sang  to  him,  pleading  that  he  come  once  more  to 
follow  them  up,  he  became  uncontrollable.  Every 
year  at  this  time  he  alleged,  with  a  show  of  irri 
tation,  that  his  health  was  being  sapped  by  the 
pernicious  indulgence  of  sleeping  on  a  bed  inside 
a  house.  He  alleged,  further,  that  stocks  and 
bonds  were  but  shadows  of  wealth,  that  the  old 
mines  might  any  day  become  exhausted,  and  that 
security  for  the  future  lay  only  in  having  one 
member  of  the  family,  at  least,  looking  up  new 
pay-rock  against  the  ever  possible  time  of  adversity,. 
'  They  ain't  got  to  makin'  calendars  yet  with 
the  rainy  day  marked  on  'em,"  he  would  say. 
"  A'most  any  one  of  them  innocent  lookin'  Mondays 
or  Tuesdays  or  Wednesdays  is  liable  to  be  it  when 
you  get  right  up  on  to  it.  I'll  have  to  start  my 
old  bones  out  again,  I  see  that.  Things  are  be- 
ginnin'  to  green  up  a'ready." 

25 


26  THE    SPENDERS 

When  he  did  go  it  was  always  understood  to 
be  positively  for  not  more  than  two  weeks.  A 
list  of  his  reasons  for  extending  the  time  each 
year  to  three  or  four  months  would  constitute  the 
ideal  monograph  on  human  duplicity.  When  hard- 
pushed  on  his  return,  he  had  once  or  twrice  been 
even  brazen  enough  to  assert  that  he  had  lost  his 
way  in  the  mountain  fastnesses.  But,  for  all  his 
protestations,  no  one  when  he  left  in  June  expected 
to  see  him  again  before  September  at  the  earliest. 
In  these  solitary  tours  he  was  busy  and  happy, 
working  and  playing.  "  Work,"  he  would  say, 
"  is  something  you  want  to  get  done ;  play  is 
something  you  jest  like  to  be  doin'.  Snoopin'  up 
these  gulches  is  both  of  'em  to  me." 

And  so  he  loitered  through  the  mountains,  rest 
ing  here,  climbing  there,  making  always  a  shrewd, 
close  reading  of  the  rocks. 

It  was  thus  Billy  Brue  found  him  at  the  end  of 
his  second  day's  search.  A  little  off  the  trail,  at 
the  entrance  to  a  pocket  of  the  canon,  he  towered 
erect  to  peer  down  when  he  heard  the  noise  of  the 
messenger's  ascent.  Standing  beside  a  boulder  of 
grey  granite,  before  a  background  of  the  gnarled 
dwarf-cedars,  his  hat  off,  his  blue  shirt  open  at 
the  neck,  his  bare  forearms  brown,  hairy,  and 
muscular,  a  hammer  in  his  right  hand,  his  left 
resting  lightly  on  his  hip,  he  might  have  been  the 
Titan  that  had  forged  the  boulder  at  his  side, 
pausing  now  for  breath  before  another  "mighty  task. 
Well  over  six  feet  tall,  still  straight  as  any  of 


THE    SPENDERS  27 

the  pines  before  him,  his  head  and  broad  shoulders 
in  the  easy  poise  of  power,  there  was  about  him 
from  a  little  distance  no  sign  of  age.  His  lines 
were  gracefully  full,  his  bearing  had  still  the  alert 
ness  of  youth.  One  must  have  come  as  near  as 
Billy  Brue  now  came  to  detect  the  marks  of  time 
in  his  face.  Not  of  age  —  merely  of  time ;  for 
here  was  no  senility,  no  quavering  or  fretful  lines. 
The  grey  eyes  shone  bright  and  clear  from  far 
under  the  heavy,  unbroken  line  of  brow,  and  the 
mouth  was  still  straight  and  firmly  held,  a  mouth 
under  sure  control  from  corner  to  corner.  A  little 
had  the  years  brought  out  the  rugged  squareness 
of  the  chin  and  the  deadly  set  of  the  jaws ;  a  little 
had  they  pressed  in  the  cheeks  to  throw  the  high 
bones  into  broad  relief.  But  these  were  the  utmost 
of  their  devastations.  Otherwise  Peter  Bines 
showed  his  seventy-four  years  only  by  the  marks 
of  a  well-ordered  maturity.  His  eyes,  it  is  true, 
had  that  look  of  knowing  w^hich  to  the  young  seems 
always  to  betoken  the  futility  of,  and  to  warn 
against  the  folly  of,  struggle  against  what  must  be; 
yet  they  were  kind  eyes,  and  humourous,  with  many 
of  the  small  lines  of  laughter  at  their  corners. 
Reading  the  eyes  and  mouth  together  one  perceived 
gentleness  and  sternness  to  be  well  matched,  work 
ing  to  any  given  end  in  amiable  and  effective  com 
promise.  "  Uncle  Peter  "  he  had  long  been  called 
by  the  public  that  knew  him,  and  his  own  grand 
children  had  come  to  call  him  by  the  same  term, 
rinding  him  too  young  to  meet  their  ideal  of  a 
grandfather. 


28  THE    SPENDERS 

Billy  Brue,  riding  up  the  trail,  halted,  nodded, 
and  was  silent.  The  old  man  returned  his  saluta 
tion  as  briefly.  These  things  by  men  who  stay  much 
alone  come  to  be  managed  with  verbal  economy. 
They  would  talk  presently,  but  greetings  were 
awkward. 

Billy  Brue  took  one  foot  from  its  stirrup  and 
turned  in  his  saddle,  pulling  the  leg  up  to  a  rest 
ful  position.  Then  he  spat,  musingly,  and  looked 
back  down  the  canon  aimlessly,  throwing  his  eyes 
from  side  to  side  where  the  grey  granite  ledges 
showed  through  the  tall  spruce  and  pine  trees. 

But  the  old  man  knew  he  had  been  sent  for. 

"Well,  Billy  Brue,  what's  doin'?" 

Billy  Brue  squirmed  in  the  saddle,  spat  again, 
as  with  sudden  resolve,  and  said : 

"  Why,  —  uh  —  Dan'l  J.  —  he's  dead." 

The  old  man  repeated  the  words,  dazedly. 

"  Dan'l  J.  —  he's  dead ;  —  why,  who  else  is  dead, 
too?" 

Billy  Brue's  emphasis,  cunningly  contrived  by 
him  to  avoid  giving  prominence  to  the  word 
"  dead,"  had  suggested  this  inquiry  in  the  first 
moment  of  stupefaction. 

"  Nobody  else  dead  —  jest  Dan'l  J.  —  he's  dead." 

"  Jest  Dan'l  J.  —  my  boy  —  my  boy  Dan'l  dead !  " 

His  mighty  shape  was  stricken  with  a  curious 
rigidity,  erected  there  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  the 
mountain,  flung  up  of  old  from  the  earth's  inner 
tragedy,  confounded,  desolate,  ancient. 

Billy  Brue  turned  from  the  stony  interrogation 


BILLY  BRUE,    WHAT'S  DOIN'?'" 


THE    SPENDERS  29 

of  his  eyes  and  took  a  few  steps  away,  waiting. 
A  little  wind  sprang  up  among  the  higher  trees, 
the  moments  passed,  and  still  the  great  figure  stood 
transfixed  in  its  curious  silence.  The  leathers 
creaked  as  the  horse  turned.  The  messenger,  with 
an  air  of  surveying  the  canon,  stole  an  anxious 
glance  at  the  old  face.  The  sorrowful  old  eyes 
were  fixed  on  things  that  were  not;  they  looked 
vaguely  as  if  in  search. 

"Dan'l!"  he  said. 

It  was  not  a  cry;  there  was  nothing  plaintive 
in  it.  It  was  only  the  old  man  calling  his  son : 
David  calling  upon  Absalom.  Then  there  was  a 
change.  He  came  sternly  forward. 

"Who  killed  my  boy?" 

"  Nobody,  Uncle  Peter ;  'twas  a  stroke.  He 
was  goin'  over  the  line  and  they'd  laid  out  at 
Kaslo  fer  a  day  so's  Dan'l  J.  could  see  about  a 
spur  the  '  Lucky  Cuss '  people  wanted  —  and 
maybe  it  was  the  climbin'  brought  it  on." 

The  old  man  looked  his  years.  As  he  came  nearer 
Billy  Brue  saw  tears  tremble  in  his  eyes  and  rol1 
unnoted  clown  his  cheeks.  Yet  his  voice  was 
unbroken  and  he  was,  indeed,  unconscious  of  the 
tears. 

"  I  was  afraid  of  that.  He  lived  too  high.  He 
et  too  much  and  he  drank  too  much  and  was  too 
soft  —  was  Dan'l  —  too  soft  - 

The  old  voice  trembled  a  bit  and  he  stopped 
to  look  aside  into  the  little  pocket  he  had  been 
exploring.  Billy  Brue  looked  back  down  the  canon, 


30  THE    SPENDERS 

where  the  swift  stream  brawled  itself  into  white 
foam  far  below. 

"  He  wouldn't  use  his  legs;  I  prodded  him  about 
it  constant  — 

He  stopped  again  to  brace  himself  against  the 
shock.  Billy  Brue  still  looked  away. 

"  I  told  him  high  altitudes  and  high  livin'  would 
do  any  man  —  Again  he  was  silent. 

"  But  all  he'd  ever  say  was  that  times  had 
changed  since  my  day,  and  I  wasn't  to  mind  him.'' 

He  had  himself  better  in  hand  now. 

"  Why,  I  nursed  that  boy  when  he  was  a  dear, 
funny  little  red  baby  with  big  round  eyes  rollin' 
around  to  take  notice;  he  took  notice  awful  quick 
-fur  a  baby.  Oh,  my!  Oh,  dear!  Dan'l !" 

Again  he  stopped. 

"  And  it  don't  seem  more'n  yesterday  that  I  was 
a-teachin'  him  to  throw  the  diamond  hitch;  he 
could  throw  the  diamond  hitch  with  his  eyes  shut 
-  I  reckon  by  the  time  he  was  nine  or  ten.  He 
had  his  faults,  but  they  didn't  hurt  him  none; 
Dan'l  J.  was  a  man,  now  -  He  halted  once 
more. 

"  The  dead  millionaire,"  began  Billy  Brue.  read 
ing  from  the  obituary  in  the  Skiplap  Weekly  Ledge, 
"  was  in  his  fifty-second  year.  Genial,  generous 
to  a  fault,  quick  to  resent  a  wrong,  but  unfailing 
in  his  loyalty  to  a  friend,  a  man  of  large  ideas, 
with  a  genius  for  large  operations,  he  was  the 
type  of  indefatigable  enterprise  that  has  builded 
this  Western  empire  in  a  wilderness  and  given 


THE    SPENDERS  31 

rich  sustenance  and  luxurious  homes  to  millions  of 
prosperous,  happy  American  citizens.  Peace  to  his 
ashes!  And  a  safe  trip  to  his  immortal  soul  over 
the  one-way  trail !  " 

''Yes,  yes  —  it's  Dan'l  J.  fur  sure  —  they  got 
my  boy  Dan'l  that  time.  Is  that  all  it  says,  Billy? 
Any  one  with  him?  " 

"  Why,  this  here  despatch  is  signed  by  young 
Toler  —  that's  his  confidential  man." 

"  Nobody  else?  " 

The  old  man  was  peering  at  him  sharply  from 
under  the  grey  protruding  brows. 

"  Well,  if  you  must  know,  Uncle  Peter,  this  is 
what  the  notice  says  that  come  by  wire  to  the 
Ledge  office,"  and  he  read  doggedly : 

"  The  young  and  beautiful  Mrs.  Bines,  who  had 
been  accompanying  her  husband  on  his  trip  of 
inspection  over  the  Sierra  Northern,  is  prostrated 
by  the  shock  of  his  sudden  death." 

The  old  man  became  for  the  first  time  conscious 
of  the  tears  in  his  eyes,  and,  pulling  down  one  of 
the  blue  woollen  shirt  sleeves,  wiped  his  wet  cheeks. 
The  slow,  painful  blush  of  age  crept  up  across  the 
iron  strength  of  his  face,  and  passed.  He  looked 
away  as  he  spoke. 

"  I  knew  it ;  I  knew  that.  My  Dan'l  was  like  all 
that  Frisco  bunch.  They  get  tangled  with  women 
sooner  or  later.  I  taxed  Dan'l  with  it.  I  spleened 
against  it  and  let  him  know  it.  But  he  was  a  man 


32  THE    SPENDERS 

and  his  own  master  —  if  you  can  rightly  call  a 
man  his  own  master  that  does  them  things.  Do 
you  know  what-fur  woman  this  one  was,  Billy?" 

"  Well,  last  time  Dan'l  J.  was  up  to  Skiplap,  there 
was  a  swell  party  on  the  car  —  kind  of  a  coppery- 
lookin'  blonde.  Allie  Ash,  the  brakeman  on  No.  4, 
he  tells  me  she  used  to  be  in  Spokane,  and  now 
she'd  got  her  hooks  on  to  some  minin'  property  up 
in  the  Cceur  d'Alene.  Course,  this  mightn't  be 
the  one." 

The  old  man  had  ceased  to  listen.  He  was 
aroused  to  the  need  for  action. 

"  Get  movin',  Billy !  We  can  get  down  to  Eden 
to-night;  we'll  have  the  moon  fur  two  hours  on 
the  trail  soon's  the  sun's  gone.  I  can  get  'em  to 
drive  me  over  to  Skiplap  first  thing  to-morrow, 
and  I  can  have  'em  make  me  up  a  train  there  fur 
Montana  City.  Was  he  — 

"  Dan'l  J.  has  been  took  home  —  the  noozepaper 
says." 

They  turned  back  down  the  trail,  the  old  man 
astride  Billy  Brue's  horse,  followed  by  his  pack- 
mule  and  preceded  by  Billy. 

Already,  such  was  his  buoyance  and  habit  of 
quick  recovery  and  readjustment  under  reverses, 
his  thoughts  were  turning  to  his  grandson.  Daniel's 
boy  —  there  was  the  grandson  of  his  grandfather 
—  the  son  of  his  father  —  fresh  from  college,  and 
the  instructions  of  European  travel,  knowing  many 
things  his  father  had  not  known,  ready  to  take  up 
the  work  of  his  father,  and  capable,  perhaps,  of 


THE    SPENDERS  33 

giving  it  a  better  finish.  His  beloved  West  had  lost 
one  of  its  valued  builders,  but  another  should  take 
his  place.  His  boy  should  come  to  him  and  finish 
the  tasks  of  his  father;  and,  in  the  years  to  come, 
make  other  mighty  tasks  of  empire-building  for 
himself  and  the  children  of  his  children. 

It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  and  the  boy 
might  be  as  far  apart  in  sympathies  and  aims  as 
at  that  moment  they  were  in  circumstance.  For, 
while  the  old  man  in  the  garb  of  a  penniless  pros 
pector,  toiled  down  the  steep  mountain  trail  on 
a  cheap  horse,  his  grandson  was  reading  the  first 
news  of  his  father's  death  in  one  of  the  luxurious 
staterooms  of  a  large  steam  yacht  that  had  just 
let  down  her  anchor  in  Newport  Harbour.  And 
each  —  but  for  the  death  —  had  been  where  most 
he  wished  to  be  —  one  with  his  coarse  fare  and 
out-of-doors  life,  roughened  and  seamed  by  the 
winds  and  browned  by  the  sun  to  mahogany  tints ; 
aged  but  playing  with  boyish  zest  at  his  primitive 
sport ;  the  other,  a  strong-limbed,  well-marrowed, 
full-breathing  youth  of  twenty-five,  with  appetites 
all  alert  and  sharpened,  pink  and  pampered,  loving 
luxury,  and  prizing  above  all  things  else  the  atmos 
phere  of  wealth  and  its  refinements. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The    West  Against  the  East 

TWO  months  later  a  sectional  war  was  raging 
in  the  Bines  home  at  Montana  City.     The 
West  and  the  East  were  met  in  conflict,  - 
the   old    and    the    new,    the    stale    and    the    fresh. 
And,  if  the  bitterness  was  dissembled  by  the  com 
batants,  not  less  keenly  was  it  felt,  nor  less  deter 
mined  was  either  faction  to  be  relentless. 

A  glance  about  the  "  sitting-room "  in  which 
the  opposing  forces  were  lined  up,  and  into  the 
parlour  through  the  opened  folding-doors,  may 
help  us  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  issue 
involved.  Both  rooms  were  large  and  furnished  in 
a  style  that  had  been  supremely  luxurious  in  1878. 
The  house,  built  in  that  year,  of  Oregon  pine,  had 
been  quite  the  most  pretentious  piece  of  architec 
ture  in  that  section  of  the  West.  It  had  been 
erected  in  the  first  days  of  Montana  City  as  a 
convincing  testimonial  from  the  owner  to  his  faith 
in  the  town's  future.  The  plush-upholstered  sofas 
and  chairs,  with  their  backs  and  legs  of  carved 
black  walnut,  had  come  direct  from  New  York. 
For  pictures  there  were  early  art-chromos,  among 

34 


THE    SPENDERS  35 

them  the  once-prized  companion  pieces,  "  Wide 
Awake  "  and  "  Fast  Asleep."  Lithography  was 
represented  by  "  The  Fisherman's  Pride "  and 
"  The  Soldier's  Dream  of  Home."  In  the  handi 
crafts  there  were  a  photographic  reproduction  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  illustrated  originally  by  a 
penman  with  uncommon  genius  for  scroll-work; 
a  group  of  water-lilies  in  wax,  floating  on  a 
mirror-lake  and  protected  by  a  glass  globe;  a 
full-rigged  schooner,  built  cunningly  inside  a  bottle 
by  a  matricide  serving  a  life-sentence  in  the  peni 
tentiary  at  San  Quinten;  and  a  mechanical  canary- 
bird  in  a  gilded  cage,  acquired  at  the  Philadelphia 
Centennial,  —  a  bird  that  had  carolled  its  death- 
lay  in  the  early  winter  of  1877  when  it  was  wound 
up  too  hard  and  its  little  insides  snapped.  In  the 
parlour  a  few  ornamental  books  were  grouped  with 
rare  precision  on  the  centre-table  with  its  oval  top 
of  white  marble.  On  the  walls  of  the  "  sitting- 
room  "  were  a  steel  engraving  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
striking  the  shackles  from  a  kneeling  slave,  and  a 
framed  cardboard  rebus  worked  in  red  zephyr, 
the  reading  of  which  was  "  No  Cross,  No  Crown." 

Thus  far  nothing  helpful  has  been  found. 

Let  us  examine,  then,  the  what-not  in  the 
"  sitting-room  "  and  the  choice  Empire  cabinet  that 
faces  it  from  the  opposite  wall  of  the  parlour. 

The  what-not  as  an  American  institution  is 
obsolete.  Indeed,  it  has  been  rather  long  since 
writers  referred  to  it  even  in  terms  of  opprobrious 
sarcasm. 


36  THE    SPENDERS 

The  what-not,  once  the  cherished  shrine  of  the 
American  home,  sheltered  the  smaller  household 
gods  for  which  no  other  resting-place  could  be 
found.  The  Empire  cabinet,  with  its  rounding 
front  of  glass,  its  painted  Watteau  scenes,  and  its 
mirrored  back,  has  come  to  supplant  the  humbler 
creation  in  the  fulfilment  of  all  its  tender  or  mys 
terious  offices. 

Here,  perchance,  may  be  found  a  clue  in  symbol 
to  the  family  strife. 

The  Bines  what-not  in  the  sitting-room  was 
grimly  orthodox  in  its  equipment.  Here  was  an 
ancient  box  covered  with  shell-work,  with  a  wavy 
little  mirror  in  its  back ;  a  tender  motto  worked  with 
the  hair  of  the  dead ;  a  "  Rock  of  Ages  "  in  a  glass 
case,  with  a  garland  of  pink  chenille  around  the 
base ;  two  dried  pine  cones  brightly  varnished ;  an 
old  daguerreotype  in  an  ornamental  case  of  hard 
rubber;  a  small  old  album;  two  small  China  vases 
of  the  kind  that  came  always  in  pairs,  standing 
on  mats  of  crocheted  worsted ;  three  sea-shells ;  and 
the  cup  and  saucer  that  belonged  to  grandma, 
which  no  one  must  touch  because  they'd  been  broken 
and  were  held  together  but  weakly,  owing  to  the 
imperfections  of  home-made  cement. 

The  new  cabinet,  haughty  in  its  varnished  ele 
gance,  with  its  Watteau  dames  and  courtiers,  and 
perhaps  the  knowledge  that  it  enjoys  widespread 
approval  among  the  elect,  —  this  is  a  different 
matter.  In  every  American  home  that  is  a  home, 
to-day,  it  demands  attention.  The  visitor,  after 


THE    SPENDERS  37 

eyeing  it  with  cautious  side-glances,  goes  jauntily 
up  to  it,  affecting  to  have  been  stirred  by  the  mere 
impulse  of  elegant  idleness.  Under  the  affectedly 
careless  scrutiny  of  the  hostess  he  falls  dramaticall}< 
into  an  attitude  of  awed  entrancement.  Reverently 
he  gazes  upon  the  priceless  bibelots  within :  the 
mother-of-pearl  fan,  half  open ;  the  tiny  cup  and 
saucer  of  Sevres  on  their  brass  easel ;  the  miniature 
Cupid  and  Psyche  in  marble;  the  Japanese  wres 
tlers  carved  in  ivory;  the  ballet-dancer  in  bisque; 
the  coral  necklace ;  the  souvenir  spoon  from  the 
Paris  Exposition;  the  jade  bracelet;  and  the  silver 
snuff-box  that  grandfather  carried  to  the  day  of 
his  death.  If  the  gazing  visitor  be  a  person  of 
abandoned  character  he  makes  humourous  pretence 
that  the  householder  has  done  wisely  to  turn  a 
key  upon  these  treasures,  against  the  ravishings  of 
the  overwhelmed  and  frenzied  connoisseur.  He 
wears  the  look  of  one  who  is  gnawed  with  envy, 
and  he  heaves  the  sigh  of  despair. 

But  when  he  notes  presently  that  he  has  ceased 
to  be  observed  he  sneaks  cheerfully  to  another  part 
of  the  room. 

The  what-not  is  obsolete.  The  Empire  cabinet  is 
regnant.  Yet,  though  one  is  the  lineal  descendant 
of  the  other  —  its  sophisticated  grandchild  —  they 
are  hostile  and  irreconcilable. 

Twenty  years  hence  the  cabinet  will  be  proscribed 
and  its  contents  catalogued  in  those  same  terms  of 
disparagement  that  the  what-not  became  long  since 
too  dead  to  incur.  Both  will  then  have  attained  the 


38  THE    SPENDERS 

state  of  honourable  extinction  now  enjoyed  by  the 
dodo. 

The  what-not  had  curiously  survived  in  the  Bines 
home  —  survived  unto  the  coming  of  the  princely 
cabinet  —  survived  to  give  battle  if  it  might. 

Here,  perhaps,  may  be  found  the  symbolic  clue 
to  the  strife's  cause. 

The  sole  non-combatant  was  Mrs.  Bines,  the 
widow.  A  neutral  was  this  good  woman,  and  a 
well-wisher  to  each  faction. 

"  I  tell  you  it's  all  the  same  to  me,"  she  declared, 
"  Montana  City  or  Fifth  Avenue  in  New  York.  I 
guess  I  can  do  well  enough  in  either  place  so  long 
as  the  rest  of  you  are  satisfied." 

It  had  been  all  the  same  to  Mrs.  Bines  for  as 
many  years  as  a  woman  of  fifty  can  remember.  It 
was  the  lot  of  wives  in  her  day  and  environment 
early  to  learn  the  supreme  wisdom  of  abolishing 
preferences.  Riches  and  poverty,  ease  and  hard 
ship,  mountain  and  plain,  town  and  wilderness, 
they  followed  in  no  ascertainable  sequence,  and  a 
superiority  of  indifference  to  each  was  the  only 
protection  against  hurts  from  the  unexpected. 

This  trained  neutrality  of  Mrs.  Bines  served  her 
finely  now.  She  had  no  leading  to  ally  herself 
against  her  children  in  their  wish  to  go  East,  nor 
against  Uncle  Peter  Bines  in  his  stubborn  effort 
to  keep  them  West.  She  folded  her  hands  to  wait 
on  the  others. 

And  the  battle  raged. 

The  old  man,  sole  defender  of  the  virtuous  and 


THE    SPENDERS  39 

stalwart  West  against  an  East  that  he  alleged  to 
be  effete  and  depraved,  had  now  resorted  to  sar 
casm,  —  a  thing  that  Mr.  Carlyle  thought  was  as 
good  as  the  language  of  the  devil. 

"  And  here,  now,  how  about  this  dog-luncheon?  " 
he  continued,  glancing  at  a  New  York  newspaper 
clutched  accusingly  in  his  hand.  "  It  was  give, 
I  see,  by  one  of  your  Newport  cronies.  Now,  that's 
healthy  doin's  fur  a  two-fisted  Christian,  ain't  it? 
I  want  to  know.  Shappyronging  a  select  company 
of  lady  and  gentlemen  dogs  from  soup  to  coffee; 
pressing  a  little  more  of  the  dog-biscuit  on  this 
one,  and  seein'  that  the  other  don't  misplay  its 
finger-bowl  no  way.  How  I  would  love  to  read 
of  a  Bines  standin'  up,  all  in  purty  velvet  pants, 
most  likely,  to  receive  at  one  of  them  bow-wow 
functions;  —  functions,  I  believe,  is  the  name  of 
it?  "  he  ended  in  polite  inquiry. 

"There,  there,  Uncle  Peter!"  the  young  man 
broke  in,  soothingly;  "you  mustn't  take  those 
Sunday  newspapers  as  gospel  truth ;  those  stories 
are  printed  for  just  such  rampant  old  tenderfoots 
as  you  are;  and  even  if  there  is  one  foolish  freak, 
he  doesn't  represent  all  society  in  the  better  sense 
of  the  term." 

"Yes,  and  you!"  Uncle  Peter  broke  out  again, 
reminded  of  another  grievance.  "  You  know  well 
enough  your  true  name  is  Peter  —  Pete  and  Petie 
when  you  was  a  baby  and  Peter  when  you  left 
for  college.  And  you're  ashamed  of  what  you've 
done,  too,  for  you  tried  to  hide  them  callin'-cards 


40  THE    SPENDERS 

from  me  the  other  day,  only  you  wa'n't  quick 
enough.  Bring  'em  out!  I'm  bound  your  mother 
and  Pish  shall  see  'em.  Out  with  'em!  " 

The  young  man,  not  without  embarrassment, 
drew  forth  a  Russia  leather  card-case  which  the 
old  man  took  from  him  as  one  having  authority. 

"  Here  you  are,  Marthy  Bines !  "  he  exclaimed, 
handing  her  a  card ;  "  here  you  are !  read  it !  '  Mr. 
P.  Percival  Bines.'  Noiv  don't  you  feel  proud  of 
havin'  stuck  out  for  Percival  when  you  see  it 
in  cold  print?  You  know  mighty  well  his  pa  and 
me  agreed  to  Percival  only  fur  a  middle  name, 
jest  to  please  you  —  and  he  wa'n't  to  be  called  by 
it;  —  only  jest  Peter  or  'Peter  P.'  at  most;  and 
now  look  at  the  way  he's  gone  and  garbled  his 
good  name." 

Mr.  P.  Percival  Bines  blushed  furiously  here, 
but  rejoined,  nevertheless,  with  quiet  dignity,  that 
a  man's  name  was  something  about  which  he  should 
have  the  ruling  voice,  especially  where  it  was  pos 
sible  for  him  to  rectify  or  conceal  the  unhappy 
choice  of  his  parents. 

.  "  And  while  \ve're  on  names,"  he  continued, 
*'  do  try  to  remember  in  case  you  ever  get  among 
people,  that  Sis's  name  is  Psyche  and  not  Pish." 

The  blond  and  complacent  Miss  Bines  here 
moved  uneasily  in  her  patent  blue  plush  rocker  and 
spoke  for  the  first  time,  with  a  grateful  glance  at 
her  brother. 

"  Yes,  Uncle  Peter,  for  mercy's  sake,  do  try ! 
Don't  make  us  a  laughing-stock !  " 


THE    SPENDERS  41 

"  But  your  name  is  Pish.  A  person's  name  is 
what  their  folks  name  'em,  ain't  it?  Your  ma 
conies  acrost  a  name  in  a  book  that  she  likes  the 
looks  of,  and  she  takes  it  to  spell  Pish,  and  she 
ups  and  names  you  Pish,  and  we  all  calls  you  Pish 
and  Pishy,  and  then  when  you  toddle  off  to  public 
school  and  let  'em  know  how  you  spell  it  they  tell 
you  it's  something  else  —  an  outlandish  name  if 
spellin'  means  anything.  If  it  comes  to  that  you 
ought  to  change  the  spellin'  instead  of  the  name 
that  your  poor  pa  loved." 

Yet  the  old  man  had  come  to  know  that  he  was 
fighting  a  lost  fight,  —  lost  before  it  had  ever  begun. 

"  It  will  be  a  good  chance,"  ventured  Mrs.  Bines, 
timidly,  "  for  Pishy  —  I  mean  Sike  —  Sicky  —  to 
meet  the  right  sort  of  people." 

"  Yes.  I  should  say  —  and  the  wrong  sort.  The 
ingagin'  host  of  them  lady  and  gentlemen  dogs, 
fur  instance." 

"  But  Uncle  Peter,"  broke  in  the  young  man, 
"  you  shouldn't  expect  a  girl  of  Psyche's  beauty  and 
fortune  to  vegetate  in  Montana  City  all  her  life. 
Why,  any  sort  of  brilliant  marriage  is  possible  to 
her  if  she  goes  among  the  right  people.  Don't  you 
want  the  family  to  amount  to  something  socially? 
Is  our  money  to  do  us  no  good?  And  do  you 
think  I'm  going  to  stay  here  and  be  a  moss-back  and 
raise  chin  whiskers  and  work  myself  to  death  the 
way  my  father  did?  " 

"  No.  no,"  replied  the  old  man,  with  a  glance 
at  the  mother;  "not  jest  the  way  your  pa  did; 


42  THE    SPENDERS 

you  might  do  some  different  and  some  better;  but 
all  the  same,  you  won't  do  any  better'n  he  did  any 
way  you'll  learn  to  live  in  New  York.  Unless  you 
was  to  go  broke  there,"  he  added,  thoughtfully; 
"  in  that  case  you  got  the  stuff  in  you  and  it'd  come 
out;  but  you  got  too  much  money  to  go  broke." 

"  And  you'll  see  that  I  lead  a  decent  enough  life. 
Times  have  changed  since  my  father  was  a  young 
man." 

"Yes;  that's  what  your  pa  told  me,  —  times 
had  changed  since  /  was  a  young  man;  but  I 
could  'a'  done  him  good  if  he'd  'a'  listened." 

"  Well,  we'll  try  it.  The  tide  is  setting  that  way 
from  all  over  the  country.  Here,  listen  to  this 
editorial  in  the  Sun."  And  he  read  from  his  own 
paper : 

"  A    GOOD    PLACE    TO     MOVE    TO. 

"  One  of  the  most  interesting  evidences  of  the 
growth  of  New  York  is  the  news  that  Mr.  Anson 
Ledrick  of  the  Consolidated  Copper  Company  has 
purchased  an  extensive  building  site  on  Riverside 
Drive  and  will  presently  improve  it  with  a  costly 
residence.  Mr.  Ledrick's  decision  to  move  his 
household  effects  to  Manhattan  Island  is  in  accord 
ance  with  a  very  marked  tendency  of  successful 
Americans. 

"  There  are  those  who  are  fond  of  depreciating 
New  York ;  of  assailing  it  with  all  sorts  of  cheap 
and  sensational  vituperation ;  of  picturing  it  as  the 
one  great  canker  spot  of  the  Western  hemisphere, 


THE    SPENDERS  43 

as  irretrievably  sunk  in  wickedness  and  shame.  The 
fact  remains,  however,  that  the  city,  as  never  before, 
is  the  great  national  centre  of  wealth,  culture,  and 
distinction  of  every  kind,  and  that  here  the  citizen, 
successful  in  art,  literature,  or  practical  achieve 
ment,  instinctively  seeks  his  abiding-place. 

"  The  restlessness  of  the  average  American  mil 
lionaire  while  he  remains  outside  the  city  limits  is 
frequently  remarked  upon.  And  even  the  mighty 
overlords  of  Chicago,  falling  in  with  the  prevailing 
fashion,  have  forsaken  the  shores  of  the  great  inland 
sea  and  pitched  their  tents  with  us ;  not  to  speak 
of  the  copper  kings  of  Montana.  Why  is  it  that 
these  interesting  men,  after  acquiring  fortune  and 
fame  elsewhere,  are  not  content  to  remain  upon 
the  scene  of  their  early  triumphs?  Why  is  it  that 
they  immediately  pack  their  carpet-bags,  take  the 
first  through  train  to  our  gates,  and  startle  the 
investing  public  by  the  manner  in  which  they  bull 
the  price  of  New  York  building  lots?" 


The  old  man  listened  absently. 

"  And  probably  some  day  I'll  read  of  you  in  that 
same  centre  of  culture  and  distinction  as  P.  Percival 
Bines,  a  young  man  of  obscure  fam'ly,  that  rose  by 
his  own  efforts  to  be  the  dashin'  young  cotillion 
leader  and  the  well-known  club-man,  and  that  his 
pink  teas  fur  dogs  is  barked  about  by  every  fashion 
able  canine  on  the  island." 

The  young  man  continued  to  read : 


44  THE    SPENDERS 

"  These  men  are  not  vain  fools ;  they  are  shrewd, 
successful  men  of  the  world.  They  have  surveyed 
New  York  City  from  a  distance  and  have  discovered 
that,  in  spite  of  Tammany  and  in  spite  of  yellow 
journals,  New  York  is  a  town  of  unequalled  attract 
iveness.  And  so  they  come;  and  their  coming 
shows  us  what  we  are.  Not  only  millionaires  ;  but 
also  painters  and  novelists  and  men  and  women 
of  varied  distinction.  The  city  palpitates  with  life 
and  ambition  and  hope  and  promise ;  it  attracts 
the  great  and  the  successful,  and  those  who  admire 
greatness  and  success.  The  force  of  natural  se 
lection  is  at  work  here  as  everywhere;  and  it  is 
rapidly  concentrating  in  our  small  island  whatever 
is  finest,  most  progressive,  and  best  in  the  American 
character." 

"  Well,  now  do  me  a  last  favour  before  you  pike 
off  East,"  pleaded  the  old  man.  "  Make  a  trip 
with  me  over  the  properties.  See  'em  once  any 
way,  and  see  a  little  more  of  this  country  and  these 
people.  Mebbe  they're  better'n  you  think.  Give 
me  about  three  weeks  or  a  month,  and  then,  by 
Crimini,  you  can  go  off  if  you're  set  on  it  and  be 
'  whatever  is  finest  and  best  in  the  American  char 
acter  '  as  that  feller  puts  it.  But  some  day,  son, 
you'll  find  out  there's  a  whole  lot  of  difference 
between  a  great  man  of  wealth  and  a  man  of  great 
wealth.  Them  last  is  gettin'  terrible  common." 


CHAPTER    V. 

Over  the  Hills 

SO  the  old  man  and  the  young  man  made  the 
round  of  the  Bines  properties.  The  former 
nursed  a  forlorn  little  hope  of  exciting  an 
interest  in  the  concerns  most  vital  to  him;  to  the 
latter  the  leisurely  tour  in  the  private  car  was  a 
sportive  prelude  to  the  serious  business  of  life,  as 
it  should  be  lived,  in  the  East.  Considering  it  as 
such  he  endured  it  amiably,  and  indeed  the  long 
August  days  and  the  sharply  cool  nights  were  not 
without  real  enjoyment  for  him. 

To  feel  impartially  a  multitude  of  strong,  fresh 
wants  —  the  imperative  need  to  live  life  in  all  its 
fulness,  this  of  itself  makes  the  heart  to  sing.  And, 
above  the  full  complement  of  wants,  to  have  been 
dowered  by  Heaven  with  a  stanch  disbelief  in  the 
unattainable,  —  this  is  a  fortune  rather  to  be  chosen 
than  a  good  name  or  great  riches;  since  the  name 
and  riches  and  all  things  desired  must  come  to  the 
call  of  it. 

Our  Western-born  youth  of  twenty-five  had  the 
wants  and  the  sense  of  power  inherited  from  a  line 
of  men  eager  of  initiative,  the  product  of  an  environ- 

45 


46  THE    SPENDERS 

ment  where  only  such  could  survive.  Doubtless  in 
him  was  the  soul  and  body  hunger  of  his  grand 
father,  cramping  and  denying  through  hardship  year 
after  year,  yet  sustained  by  dreaming  in  the  hardest 
times  of  the  soft  material  luxuries  that  should  some 
day  be  his.  Doubtless  marked  in  his  character,  too, 
was  the  slightly  relaxed  tension  of  his  father;  the 
disposition  to  feast  as  well  as  the  capacity  to  fast; 
to  take  all,  feel  all,  do  all,  with  an  avidity  greater 
by  reason  of  the  grinding  abstinence  and  the  later 
indulgence  of  his  forbears.  A  sage  versed  in  the 
lore  of  heredity  as  modified  by  environment  may 
some  day  trace  for  us  the  progress  across  this  con 
tinent  of  an  austere  Puritan,  showing  how  the  strain 
emerges  from  the  wilderness  at  the  Western  ocean 
with  a  character  so  widely  differing  from  the  one 
with  which  he  began  the  adventurous  journey,  — 
regarding,  especially,  a  tolerance  of  the  so-called 
good  and  many  of  the  bad  things  of  life.  Until 
this  is  done  we  may,  perhaps,  consider  the  change 
to  be  without  valid  cause. 

Young  Bines,  at  all  events,  was  the  flower  of  a 
pioneer  stock,  and  him  the  gods  of  life  cherished, 
so  that  all  the  forces  of  the  young  land  about  him 
were  as  his  own.  Yet,  though  his  pulses  rhymed 
to  theirs  he  did  not  perceive  his  relation  to  them : 
neither  he  nor  the  land  was  yet  become  introspective. 
So  informed  was  he  with  the  impetuous  spirit  of 
youth  that  the  least  manifestation  of  life  found  its 
answering  thrill  in  him.  And  it  was  sufficient  to 
feel  this.  There  was  no  time  barren  enough  of 
sensation  to  reason  about  it. 


THE    SPENDERS  47 

Uncle  Peter's  plan  for  an  inspection  of  the  Bines 
properties  had  at  first  won  him  by  touching  his 
sense  of  duty.  He  anticipated  no  interest  or  pleasure 
in  the  trip.  Yet  from  the  beginning  he  enjoyed  it 
to  the  full.  Being  what  he  was,  the  constant 
movement  pleased  him,  the  out-of-doors  life,  the 
occasional  sorties  from  the  railroad  by  horse  to 
some  remote  mining  camp,  or  to  a  stock  ranch 
or  lumber-camp.  He  had  been  away  for  six  years, 
and  it  pleased  him  to  note  that  he  was  treated  by 
the  people  he  met  with  a  genuine  respect  and  liking 
as  the  son  of  his  father.  In  the  East  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  a  certain  deference  from  very  uncer 
tain  people  because  he  was  the  son  of  a  rich  man. 
Here  he  had  prestige  because  he  was  the  son  of 
Daniel  Bines,  organiser  and  man  of  affairs.  He 
felt  sometimes  that  the  men  at  mine,  mill,  or  ranch 
looked  him  over  with  misgiving,  and  had  their 
cautious  liking  compelled  only  by  the  assurance 
that  he  was  indeed  the  son  of  Daniel.  They  left 
him  at  these  times  with  the  suspicion  that  this  bare 
fact  meant  enough  with  them  to  carry  a  man  of 
infelicitous  exterior. 

He  was  pleased,  moreover,  to  feel  a  new  respect 
for  Uncle  Peter.  He  observed  that  men  of  all 
degrees  looked  up  to  him,  sought  and  relied  upon 
his  judgment ;  the  investing  capitalist  whom  they 
met  not  less  than  the  mine  foreman ;  the  made  man 
and  the  labourer.  In  the  drawing-room  at  home 
he  had  felt  so  agreeably  superior  to  the  old  man; 
now  he  felt  his  own  inferiority  in  a  new  element, 


48  THE    SPENDERS 

and  began  to  view  him  with  more  respect.  He 
saw  him  to  be  the  shrewd  man  of  affairs,  with  a 
thorough  grasp  of  detail  in  every  branch  of  their 
interests;  and  a  deep  man,  as  well;  a  little  narrow, 
perhaps,  from  his  manner  of  life,  but  of  unfailing 
kindness,  and  with  rather  a  young  man's  radical 
ism  than  an  old  man's  conservatism;  one  who,  in 
an  emergency,  might  be  relied  upon  to  take  the 
unexpected  but  effective  course. 

For  his  own  part,  old  Peter  Bines  learned  in  the 
course  of  the  trip  to  understand  and  like  his  grand 
son  better.  At  bottom  he  decided  the  young  man  to 
be  sound  after  all,  and  he  began  to  make  allowance 
for  his  geographical  heresies.  The  boy  had  been 
sent  to  an  Eastern  college ;  that  was  clearly  a 
mistake,  putting  him  out  of  sympathy  with  the  West ; 
and  he  had  never  been  made  to  work,  which  was 
another  and  a  graver  mistake,  "  but  he'd  do  more'n 
his  father  ever  did  if  'twa'n't  fur  his  father's  money," 
the  old  man  concluded.  For  he  saw  in  their  talks 
that  the  very  Eastern  experience  which  he  derided 
had  given  the  young  fellow  a  poise  and  a  certain 
readiness  to  grasp  details  in  the  large  that  his 
father  had  been  a  lifetime  in  acquiring. 

For  a  month  they  loitered  over  the  surrounding 
territory  in  the  private  car,  gliding  through  fertile 
valleys,  over  bleak  passes,  steaming  up  narrow  little 
canons  along  the  down-rushing  streams  with  their 
cool  shallow  murmurs. 

They  would  learn  one  day  that  a  cross-cut  was 
to  be  started  on  the  Last  Chance,  or  that  the 


THE    SPENDERS  49 

concentrates  of  the  True  Grit  would  thereafter  be 
shipped  to  the  Careless  Creek  smelter.  Next  they 
would  learn  that  a  new  herd  of  Galloways  had  done 
finely  last  season  on  the  Bitter  Root  ranch;  that 
a  big  lot  of  ore  was  sacked  at  the  Irish  Boy,  that 
an  eighteen-inch  vein  had  been  struck  in  the  Old 
Crow ;  that  a  concentrator  was  needed  at  Helland- 
gone,  and  that  rich  gold-bearing  copper  and  sand 
bearing  free  gold  had  been  found  over  on  Horse 
back  Ridge. 

Another  day  they  would  drive  far  into  a  forest 
of  spruce  and  hemlock  to  a  camp  where  thousands 
of  ties  were  being  cut  and  floated  down  to  the  line 
of  the  new  railway. 

Sometimes  they  spent  a  night  in  one  of  the 
smaller  mining  camps  off  the  railroad,  whereof 
facetious  notes  would  appear  in  the  nearest  weekly 
paper,  such  as : 

'  The  Hon.  Peter  Bines  and  his  grandson,  who 
is  a  chip  of  the  old  block,  spent  Tuesday  night 
at  Rock  Rip.  Young  Bines  played  the  deal  from 
soda  card  to  hock  at  Lem  Tully's  Turf  Exchange, 
and  showed  Lem's  dealer  good  and  plenty  that 
there's  no  piker  strain  in  him." 

Or,  it  might  be: 

"  Poker  stacks  continue  to  have  a  downward 
tendency.  They  were  sold  last  week  as  low  as 
eighty  chips  for  a  dollar.  It  is  sad  to  see  this 


50  THE   SPENDERS 

noble  game  dragging  along  in  the  lower  levels  of 
prosperity,  and  we  take  as  a  favourable  omen  the 
appearance  of  Uncle  Peter  Bines  and  his  grandson 
the  other  night.  The  prices  went  to  par  in  a 
minute.  Young  Bines  gave  signs  of  becoming  as 
delicately  intuitional  in  the  matter  of  concealed 
values  as  his  father,  the  lamented  Daniel  J." 

Again  it  was : 

"  Uncle  Peter  Bines  reports  from  over  Kettle 
Creek  way  that  the  sag'e-brush  whiskey  they  take 
a  man's  two  bits  for  there  would  gnaw  holes  in 
limestone.  Peter  is  likelier  to  find  a  ledge  of  dollar 
bills  than  he  is  good  whiskey  this  far  off  the  main 
trail.  The  late  Daniel  J.  could  have  told  him  as 
much,  and  Daniel  J.'s  boy,  who  accompanies  Uncle 
Peter,  will  know  it  hereafter." 

The  young  man  felt  wholesomely  insignificant 
at  these  and  other  signs  that  he  was  taken  on 
sufferance  as  a  son  and  a  grandson. 

He  was  content  that  it  should  be  so.  Indeed 
there  was  little  wherewith  he  was  not  content. 
That  he  was  habitually  preoccupied,  even  when  there 
was  most  movement  about  them,  early  became  appar 
ent  to  Uncle  Peter.  That  he  was  constantly  cheerful 
proved  the  matter  of  his  musings  to  be  pleasant. 
That  he  was  proner  than  most  youths  to  serious 
meditation  Uncle  Peter  did  not  believe.  Therefore 
he  attributed  the  moods  of  abstraction  to  some 


THE    SPENDERS  51 

matter  probably  connected  with  his  project  of 
removing  the  family  East.  It  was  not  permitted 
Uncle  Peter  to  know,  nor  was  his  own  youth  recent 
enough  for  him  to  suspect,  the  truth.  And  the 
mystery  stayed  inviolate  until  a  day  came  and  \vent 
that  laid  it  bare  even  to  the  old  man's  eyes. 

They  awoke  one  morning  to  find  the  car  on  a 
siding  at  the  One  Girl  mine.  Coupled  to  it  was 
another  car  from  an  Eastern  road  that  their  train 
had  taken  on  sometime  in  the  night.  Percival 
noted  the  car  with  interest  as  he  paced  beside  the 
track  in  the  cool  clear  air  before  breakfast.  The 
curtains  were  drawn,  and  the  only  signs  of  life  to 
be  observed  were  at  the  kitchen  end,  where  the 
white-clad  cook  could  be  seen  astir.  Grant,  porter 
on  the  Bines  car,  told  him  the  other  car  had  been 
taken  on  at  Kaslo  Junction,  and  that  it  belonged 
to  Rulon  Shepler,  the  New  York  financier,  who 
was  aboard  with  a  party  of  friends. 

As  Percival  and  Uncle  Peter  left  their  car  for 
the  shaft-house  after  breakfast,  the  occupants  of 
the  other  car  were  bestirring  themselves. 

From  one  of  the  open  windows  a  low  but  im 
passioned  voice  was  exhausting  the  current  idioms 
of  damnation  in  sweeping  dispraise  of  all  land- 
areas  north  and  west  of  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New 
York. 

Uncle  Peter  smiled  grimly.  Percival  flushed,  for 
the  hidden  protestant  had  uttered  what  were  his 
own  sentiments  a  month  before. 

Reaching    the    shaft-house    they    chatted    with 


52  THE    SPENDERS 

Pangburn,  the  superintendent,  and  then  went  to 
the  store-room  to  don  blouses  and  overalls  for  a 
descent  into  the  mine. 

For  an  hour  they  stayed  underground,  traversing 
the  various  levels  and  drifts,  while  Pangburn  ex 
plained  the  later  developments  of  the  vein  and 
showed  them  where  the  new  stoping  had  been  begun. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

A   Meeting  and  a  Clashing 

AS  they  stepped  from  the  cage  at  the  surface 
Percival  became  aware  of  a  group  of 
strangers  between  him  and  the  open  door  of 
the  shaft-house,  —  people  displaying  in  dress  and 
manner  the  unmistakable  stamp  of  New  York. 
For  part  of  a  minute,  while  the  pupils  of  his  eyes 
were  contracting  to  the  light,  he  saw  them  but 
vaguely.  Then,  as  his  sight  cleared,  he  beheld 
foremost  in  the  group,  beaming  upon  him  with  an 
expression  of  pleased  and  surprised  recognition, 
the  girl  whose  face  and  voice  had  for  nearly  half 
a  year  peopled  his  lover's  solitude  with  fair  visions 
and  made  its  silence  to  be  all  melody. 

Had  the  encounter  been  anticipated  his  composure 
would  perhaps  have  failed  him.  Not  a  few  of  his 
waking  dreams  had  sketched  this,  their  second  meet 
ing,  and  any  one  of  the  ways  it  had  pleased  him 
to  plan  it  would  assuredly  have  found  him  nervously 
embarrassed.  But  so  wildly  improbable  was  this 
reality  that  not  the  daringest  of  his  imagined  hap 
penings  had  approached  it.  His  thoughts  for  the 
moment  had  been  not  of  her;  then,  all  at  once, 

53 


54  THE    SPENDERS 

she  stood  before  him  in  the  flesh,  and  he  was  cool, 
almost  unmoved.  He  suspected  at  once  that  her 
father  was  the  trim,  fastidiously  dressed  man  who 
looked  as  if  he  had  been  abducted  from  a  morn 
ing  stroll  down  the  avenue  to  his  club;  that  the 
plump,  ruddy,  high-bred  woman,  surveying  the 
West  disapprovingly  through  a  lorgnon,  would  be 
her  mother.  Shepler  he  knew  by  sight,  with  his 
big  head,  massive  shoulders,  and  curiously  short, 
tapering  body.  Some  other  men  and  a  woman 
were  scanning  the  hoisting  machinery  with  superior 
looks. 

The  girl,  before  starting  toward  him,  had  waited 
hardly  longer  than  it  took  him  to  eye  the  group. 
And  then  came  an  awkward  two  seconds  upon  her 
whose  tact  in  avoiding  the  awkward  wras  reputed 
to  be  more  than  common. 

With  her  hand  extended  she  had  uttered,  "  Why, 
Mr.  -  "  before  it  flashed  upon  her  that  she  did  not 
know  the  name  of  the  young  man  she  was  greeting. 

The  "  Mister  "  was  threatening  to  prolong  itself 
into  an  "  r  "  of  excruciating  length  and  disgraceful 
finality,  an  "  r "  that  is  terminated  neatly  by  no 
one  but  hardened  hotel-clerks.  Then  a  miner  saved 
the  day. 

"  Mr.  Bines,"  he  said,  coming  up  hurriedly  behind 
Percival  with  several  specimens  of  ore,  "  you  forgot 
these." 

"  -r-r-r.  Bines,  how  do  you  do !  "  concluded  the 
girl  with  an  eye-flash  of  gratitude  at  the  humble 
instrument  that  had  prevented  an  undue  hiatus  in 
her  salutation. 


THE    SPENDERS  55 

They  were  apart  from  the  others  and  for  the 
moment  unnoticed. 

The  young  man  took  the  hand  so  cordially  of 
fered,  and  because  of  all  the  things  he  wished  and 
had  so  long  waited  to  say,  he  said  nothing. 

"  Isn't  it  jolly !  I  am  Miss  Milbrey,"  she  added  in 
a  lower  tone,  and  then,  raising  her  voice,  "  Mamma, 
Mr.  Bines  —  and  papa,"  and  there  followed  a  hur 
ried  and  but  half-acknowledged  introduction  to 
the  other  members  of  the  party.  And,  behold!  in 
that  moment  the  young  man  had  schemed  the  edifice 
of  all  his  formless  dreams.  For  six  months  he 
had  known  the  unsurpassable  luxury  of  wanting 
and  of  knowing  what  he  wanted.  Now,  all  at  once, 
he  saw  this  to  be  a  world  in  which  dreams  come 
more  than  true. 

Shepler  and  the  party  were  to  go  through  the 
mine  as  a  matter  of  sight-seeing.  They  were  putting 
on  outer  clothes  from  the  store-room  to  protect 
them  from  the  dirt  and  damp. 

Presently  Percival  found  himself  again  at  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft.  During  the  descent  of  twelve 
hundred  feet  he  had  reflected  upon  the  curious  and 
interesting  fact  that  her  name  should  be  Milbrey. 
He  felt  dimly  that  this  circumstance  should  be 
ranked  among  the  most  interesting  of  natural  phe 
nomena,  —  that  she  should  have  a  name,  as  the  run 
of  mortals,  and  that  it  should  be  one  name  more 
than  another.  When  he  discovered  further  that  her 
Christian  name  was  Avice  the  phenomenon  became 
stupendously  bewildering. 


56  THE    SPENDERS 

They  two  were  in  the  last  of  the  party  to  descend. 
On  reaching  bottom  he  separated  her  with  prompt 
ness  and  guile  from  two  solemn  young  men,  copies 
of  each  other,  and  they  were  presently  alone.  In 
the  distance  they  could  see  the  others  following 
ghostly  lamps.  From  far  off  mysterious  recesses 
came  the  muffled  musical  clink  of  the  sledges  on 
the  drills.  An  employee  who  had  come  down  with 
them  started  to  be  their  guide.  Percival  sent  him 
back. 

"  I've  just  been  through ;  I  can  find  my  way 
again." 

"  Ver'  well,"  said  the  man,  "  with  the  exception 
that  it  don't  happen  something,  —  yes?"  And  he 
stayed  where  he  was. 

Down  one  of  the  cross-cuts  they  started,  stepping 
aside  to  let  a  car  of  ore  be  pushed  along  to  the 
shaft. 

"  Do  you  know,"  began  the  girl,  "  I  am  so  glad 
to  be  able  to  thank  you  for  what  you  did  that 
night." 

"  I'm  glad  you  are  able.  I  was  beginning  to  think 
I  should  always  have  those  thanks  owing  to  me." 

"  I  might  have  paid  them  at  the  time,  but  it 
was  all  so  unexpected  and  so  sudden,  —  it  rattled 
me,  quite." 

"  I  thought  you  were  horribly  cool-headed." 

"  I  wasn't." 

"  Your  manner  reduced  me  to  a  groom  who 
opened  your  carriage  door." 

"  But  grooms  don't  often  pick  strange  ladies  up 


THE    SPENDERS  57 

bodily  and  bear  them  out  of  a  pandemonium  of 
waltzing  cab-horses.  I'd  never  noticed  before  that 
cab-horses  are  so  frivolous  and  hysterical." 

"  And  grooms  know  where  to  look  for  their  pay." 

They  were  interrupting  nervously,  and  bestowing 
furtive  side-looks  upon  each  other. 

"  If  I'd  not  seen  you,"  said  the  girl,  "  glanced 
at  you  —  before  —  that  evening,  I  shouldn't  have 
remembered  so  well ;  doubtless  I'd  not  have  rec 
ognised  you  to-day." 

"  I  didn't  know  you  did  glance  at  me,  and  yet 
I  watched  you  every  moment  of  the  evening.  You 
didn't  know  that,  did  you  ?  " 

She  laughed. 

"Of  course  I  knew  it.  A  woman  has  to  note 
such  things  without  letting  it  be  seen  that  she  sees." 

"  And  I'd  have  sworn  you  never  once  so  much  as 
looked  my  way." 

"Don't  we  do  it  well,  though?" 

"  And  in  spite  of  all  the  time  I  gave  to  a  study 
of  your  face  I  lost  the  detail  of  it.  I  could  keep 
only  the  effect  of  its  expression  and  the  few  tones 
of  your  voice  I  heard.  You  know  I  took  those 
on  a  record  so  I  could  make  'em  play  over  any 
time  I  wanted  to  listen.  -Do  you  know,  that  has 
all  been  very  sweet  to  me,  my  helping  you  and 
the  memory  of  it,  —  so  vague  and  sweet." 

"  Aren't  you  afraid  we're  losing  the  others  ?  " 

She  halted  and  looked  back. 

"  No ;  I'm  afraid  we  won't  lose  them ;  come  on ; 
you  can't  turn  back  now.  And  you  don't  want  to 


58  THE   SPENDERS 

hear  anything  about  mines;  it  wouldn't  be  at  all 
good  for  you,  I'm  sure.  Quick,  down  this  way, 
or  you'll  hear  Pangburn  telling  some  one  what  a 
stope  is,  and  think  what  a  thing  that  would  be  to 
carry  in  your  head." 

"  Really,  a  stope  sounds  like  something  that 
would  '  get  you  '  in  the  night !  I'm  afraid !  " 

Half  in  his  spirit  she  fled  with  him  down  a 
dimly  lighted  incline  where  men  were  working  at 
the  rocky  wall  with  sledge  and  drill.  There  was 
that  in  his  manner  which  compelled  her  quite  as 
literally  as  when  at  their  first  meeting  he  had  picked 
her  up  in  his  arms. 

As  they  walked  single-file  through  the  narrowing 
of  a  drift,  she  wondered  about  him.  He  was 
Western,  plainly.  An  employee  in  the  mine,  proba 
bly  a  manager  or  director  or  whatever  it  was  they 
called  those  in  authority  in  mines.  Plainly,  too, 
he  was  a  man  of  action  and  a  man  who  engaged 
all  her  instinctive  liking.  Something  in  him  at 
once  coerced  her  friendliest  confidence.  These  were 
the  admissions  she  made  to  herself.  She  divined 
him,  moreover,  to  be  a  blend  of  boldness  and 
timidity.  He  was  bold  to  the  point  of  telling  her 
things  unconventionally,  of  beguiling  her  into 
remote  underground  passages  away  from  the  party ; 
yet  she  understood;  she  knew  at  once  that  he  was 
a  determined  but  unspoiled  gentleman;  that  under 
no  provocation  could  he  make  a  mistake.  In  any 
situation  of  loneliness  she  would  have  felt  safe  with 
him  —  "  as  with  a  brother  "  -  she  thought.  Then, 


THE    SPENDERS  59 

feeling  her  cheeks  burn,  she  turned  back  and 
said: 

"  I  must  tell  you  he  was  my  brother  —  that  man 
-  that  night." 

He  was  sorry  and  glad  all  at  once.  The  sorrow 
being  the  lesser  and  more  conventional  emotion,  he 
started  upon  an  awkward  expression  of  it,  which 
she  interrupted. 

"  Never  mind  saying  that,  thank  you.  Tell  me 
something  about  yourself,  now.  I  really  would 
like  to  know  you.  What  do  you  see  and  hear  and 
do  in  this  strange  life?  " 

"  There's  not  much  variety,"  he  answered,  with 
a  convincing  droop  of  depression.  "  For  six  months 
I've  been  seeing  you  and  hearing  you  —  seeing  you 
and  hearing  you ;  not  much  variety  in  that  —  noth 
ing  worth  telling  you  about." 

Despite  her  natural  caution,  intensified  by  train 
ing,  she  felt  herself  thrill  to  the  very  evident  sin 
cerity  of  his  tones,  so  that  she  had  to  affect  mirth 
to  seem  at  ease. 

"  Dear,  dear,  what  painful  monotony ;  and  how 
many  men  have  said  it  since  these  rocks  were  made ; 
and  now  you  say  it,  —  well,  I  admit  — 

"  But  there's  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  you 
know." 

"  No ;  not  even  a  new  excuse  for  plagiarism, 
is  there?  " 

"  Well,  you  see  as  long  as  the  same  old  thing 
keeps  true  the  same  old  way  of  telling  it  will  be 
more  or  less  depended  upon.  After  a  few  hundred 


60  THE    SPENDERS 

years  of  experiment,  you  know,  they  hit  on  the 
fewest  words  that  tell  the  most,  and  everybody  uses 
them  because  no  one  can  improve  them.  Maybe  the 
prehistoric  cave-gentleman,  who  proposed  to  his 
loved  one  with  a  war  club  just  back  of  her  left  ear, 
had  some  variation  of  the  formula  suiting  his  simple 
needs,  after  he'd  gotten  her  home  and  brought  her 
to  and  she  said  it  was  '  all  so  sudden ;  '  and  a  man 
can  work  in  little  variations  of  his  own  to-day. 
For  example  - 

"  I'm  sure  we'd  best  be  returning." 

"  For  example,  I  could  say,  you  know,  that  for 
keeping  the  mind  active  and  the  heart  working 
overtime  the  memory  of  you  surpasses  any  tonic 
advertised  in  the  backs  of  the  magazines.  Or, 
that  - 

"  I  think  that's  enough ;  I  see  you  could  vary 
the  formula,  in  case — 

"  —  have  varied  it  —  but  don't  forget  I  prefer 
the  original  unvaried.  After  all,  there  are  certain 
things  that  you  can't  tell  in  too  few  words.  Now, 
you  —  " 

"  You  stubborn  person.  Really,  I  know  all 
about  myself.  I  asked  you  to  tell  me  about 
yourself." 

"  And  I  began  at  once  to  tell  you  everything 
about  myself  —  everything  of  interest  —  which  is 
yourself." 

"  I  see  your  sense  of  values  is  gone,  poor  man. 
I  shall  question  you.  Now  you  are  a  miner,  and 
I  like  men  of  action,  men  who  do  things ;  I've 


THE    SPENDERS  61 

often  wondered  about  you,  and  seriously,  I'm  glad 
to  find  you  here  doing  something.  I  remembered 
you  kindly,  with  real  gratitude,  indeed.  You  didn't 
seem  like  a  New  York  man  either,  and  I  decided 
you  weren't.  Honestly,  I  am  glad  to  find  you 
here  at  your  work  in  your  miner's  clothes.  You 
mustn't  think  we  forget  how  to  value  men  that 
work." 

On  the  point  of  saying  thoughtlessly,  "  But  I'm 
not  working  here  —  I  own  the  mine,"  he  checked 
himself.  Instead  he  began  a  defence  of  the  man 
who  doesn't  work,  but  who  could  if  he  had  to. 
"  For  example,"  he  continued,  "  here  we  are  at  a 
place  that  you  must  be  carried  over;  otherwise 
you'd  have  to  wade  through  a  foot  of  water  or  go 
around  that  long  way  we've  come.  I've  rubber 
boots  on,  and  so  I  pick  you  up  this  way - 
He  held  her  lightly  on  his  arm  and  she  steadied 
herself  with  a  hand  between  his  shoulders. 

"  And  staggering  painfully  under  my  burden,  I 
wade  out  to  the  middle  of  this  subterranean  lake." 
He  stopped. 

"  You  see,  I've  learned  to  do  things.  I  could 
pick  you  from  that  slippery  street  and  put  you  in 
your  carriage,  and  I  can  pick  you  up  now  without 
wasting  words  about  it  — 

"  But  you're  wasting  time — hurry,  please — and, 
anyway,  you're  a  miner  and  used  to  such  things." 

He  remained  standing. 

"  But  I'm  not  wasting  time,  and  I'm  not  a 
miner  in  the  sense  you  mean.  I  own  this  mine, 


62  THE    SPENDERS 

and  I  suppose  for  the  most  part  I'm  the  sort  of 
man  you  seem  to  have  gotten  tired  of;  the  man 
who  doesn't  have  to  do  anything.  Even  now  I'm 
this  close  to  work  only  because  my  grandfather 
wanted  me  to  look  over  the  properties  my  father 
left." 

"  But,  hurry,  please,  and  set  me  down." 

"  Not  until  I  warn  you  that  I'm  just  as  apt  to 
do  things  as  the  kind  of  man  you  thought  I  was. 
This  is  twice  I've  picked  you  up  now.  Look  out 
for  me ;  —  next  time  I  may  not  put  you  down  at 
all." 

She  gave  a  low  little  laugh,  denoting  unruffled 
serenity.  She  was  glorying  secretly  in  his  strength, 
and  she  knew  his  boldness  and  timidity  were  still 
justly  balanced.  And  there  was  the  rather  astonish 
ing  bit  of  news  he  had  just  given  her.  That  needed 
a  lot  of  consideration. 

With  slow,  sure-footed  steps  he  reached  the 
farther  side  of  the  water  and  put  her  on  her  feet. 

"  There,  I  thought  I'd  reveal  the  distressing  truth 
about  myself  while  I  had  you  at  my  mercy." 

"  I  might  have  suspected,  but  I  gave  the  name 
no  thought.  Bines,  to  be  sure.  You  are  the  son 
of  the  Bines  who  died  some  months  ago.  I  heard 
Mr.  Shepler  and  my  father  talking  about  some  of 
your  mining  properties.  Mr.  Shepler  thought  the 
'  One  Girl '  was  such  a  funny  name  for  your  father 
to  give  a  mine." 

Now  they  neared  the  foot  of  the  shaft  where 
the  rest  of  the  party  seemed  to  await  them.  As 


THE    SPENDERS  63 

they  came  up  Percival  felt  himself  raked  by  a 
broadside  from  the  maternal  lorgnon  that  left  him 
all  but  disabled.  The  father  glowered  at  him  and 
asked  questions  in  the  high  key  we  are  apt  to  adopt 
in  addressing  foreigners,  in  the  instinctive  fallacy 
that  any  language  can  be  understood  by  any  one  if 
it  be  spoken  loudly  enough.  The  mother's  manner 
was  a  crushing  rebuke  to  the  young  man  for  his 
audacity.  The  father's  manner  was  meant  to  inti 
mate  that  natives  of  the  region  in  which  they  were 
then  adventuring  were  not  worthy  of  rebuke,  save 
such  general  rebukes  as  may  be  conveyed  by  dis 
playing  one's  natural  superiority  of  manner.  The 
other  members  of  the  party,  excepting  Shepler,  who 
talked  with  Pangburn  at  a  little  distance,  took  cue 
from  the  Milbreys  and  aggressively  ignored  the 
abductor  of  an  only  daughter.  They  talked  over, 
around,  and  through  him,  as  only  may  those  mortals 
whom  it  hath  pleased  heaven  to  have  born  within 
certain  areas  on  Manhattan  Island. 

The  young  man  felt  like  a  social  outcast  until  he 
caught  a  glance  from  Miss  Milbrey.  That  young 
woman  was  still  friendly,  which  he  could  under 
stand,  and  highly  amused,  which  he  could  not 
understand.  While  the  temperature  was  at  its 
lowest  the  first  load  ascended,  including  Miss 
Milbrey  and  her  parents,  a  chatty  blonde,  and  an 
uncomfortable  little  man  who,  despite  his  being 
twelve  hundred  feet  toward  the  centre  thereof .  had 
three  times  referred  bitterly  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
"  out  of  the  world." 


64  THE   SPENDERS 

''  I  shall  see  you  soon  above  ground,  shall  I  not?  " 
Miss  Milbrey  had  asked,  at  which  her  mother  shot 
Percival  a  parting  volley  from  her  rapid-fire  lorgnon, 
while  her  father  turned  upon  him  a  back  whose  side 
lines  were  really  admirable,  considering  his  age 
and  feeding  habits.  The  behaviour  of  these  people 
appeared  to  intensify  the  amusement  of  their  child. 
The  two  solemn  young  men  who  remained  con 
tinued  to  chat  before  Percival  as  they  would  have 
chatted  before  the  valet  of  either.  He  began  to 
sound  the  spiritual  anguish  of  a  pariah.  Also  to 
feel  truculent  and,  in  his  own  phrase,  "  Westy." 
With  him  "  Westy  "  meant  that  you  were  as  good 
as  any  one  else  "  and  a  shade  better  than  a  whole 
lot  if  it  came  to  a  show-down."  He  was  not  a 
little  mortified  to  find  how  easy  it  was  for  him 
to  fall  back  upon  that  old  cushion  of  provincial 
arrogance.  It  was  all  right  for  Uncle  Peter,  but 
for  himself,  —  well,  it  proved  that  he  was  less 
finely  Eastern  than  he  had  imagined. 

As  the  cage  came  down  for  another  ascent,  he 
let  the  two  solemn  young  men  go  up  with  Shepler 
and  Pangburn,  and  went  to  search  for  Uncle  Peter. 

"  There,  thank  God,  is  a  man!  "  he  reflected. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

TJie  Rapid-fire  Lorgnon  Is  Spiked 

HE  found  Uncle  Peter  in  the  cross-cut,  studying 
a  bit  of  ore  through  a  glass,  and  they  went 
back  to  ascend. 

"  Them  folks,"  said  the  old  man,  "  must  be 
the  kind  that  newspaper  meant,  that  had  done 
something  in  practical  achievement.  I  bet  that  girl's 
mother  will  achieve  something  practical  with  you 
fur  cuttin'  the  girl  out  of  the  bunch ;  she  was 
awful  tormented ;  talked  two  or  three  times  about 
the  people  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life  bein' 
strangely  something  or  other.  You  ain't  such  a 
humble  walker  now,  are  you,  son?  But  say,  that 
yellow-haired  woman,  she  ain't  a  bit  diffident,  is 
she?  She's  a  very  hearty  lady,  I  must  say!" 

"But   did   you    see    Miss    Milbrey?" 

"  Oh,  that's  her  name  is  it,  the  one  that  her 
mother  was  so  worried  about  and  you?  Yes,  I 
saw  her.  Peart  and  cunnin',  but  a  heap  too  wise 
fur  you,  son ;  take  my  steer  on  that.  Say,  she'd 
have  your  pelt  nailed  to  the  barn  while  you  was 
wonderin'  which  way  you'd  jump." 

"  Oh.  I  know  I'm  only  a  tender,  teething  infant," 
the  young  man  answered,  with  masterly  satire. 

65 


66  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Well,  now,  as  long's  you  got  that  bank  roll 
you  jest  look  out  fur  cupboard  love  —  the  kind 
the  old  cat  has  when  she  comes  rubbin'  up  against 
your  leg  and  purrin'  like  you  was  the  whole  thing." 

The  young  man  smiled,  as  they  went  up,  with 
youth's  godlike  faith  in  its  own  sufficiency,  albeit 
he  smarted  from  the  slights  put  upon  him. 

At  the  surface  a  pleasant  shock  was  in  store  for 
him.  There  stood  the  formidable  Mrs.  Milbrey 
beaming  upon  him.  Behind  her  was  Mr.  Milbrey, 
the  pleasing  model  of  all  a  city's  refinements,  await 
ing  the  boon  of  a  hand-clasp.  Behind  these  were 
the  uncomfortable  little  man,  the  chatty  blonde, 
and  the  two  solemn  young  men  who  had  lately 
exhibited  more  manner  than  manners.  Percival  felt 
they  were  all  regarding  him  now  with  affectionate 
concern.  They  pressed  forward  effusively. 

"  So  good  of  you,  Mr.  Bines,  to  take  an  interest 
in  us  —  my  daughter  has  been  so  anxious  to  see  one 
of  these  fascinating  mines."  "  Awfully  obliged, 
Mr.  Bines."  "  Charmed,  old  man;  deuced  pally 
of  you  to  stay  by  us  down  in  that  hole,  you  know." 
"  So  clever  of  you  to  know  where  to  find  the 
gold- 

He  lost  track  of  the  speakers.  Their  speeches 
became  one  concerted  effusion  of  affability  that 
was  music  to  his  ears. 

Miss  Milbrey  was  apart  from  the  group.  Having 
doffed  the  waterproofs,  she  was  now  pluming 
herself  with  those  fussy-looking  but  mysteriously 
potent  little  pats  which  restore  the  attire  and  mind 


THE    SPENDERS  67 

of  women  to  their  normal  perfection  and  serenity. 
Upon  her  face  was  still  the  amused  look  Percival 
had  noted  below. 

"  And,  Mr.  Bines,  do  come  in  with  that  quaint 
old  grandfather  of  yours  and  lunch  with  us,"  urged 
Mrs.  Milbrey,  who  had,  as  it  were,  spiked  her 
lorgnon.  "  Here's  Mr.  Shepler  to  second  the  invi 
tation  —  and  then  we  shall  chat  about  this  very 
interesting  West." 

Miss  Milbrey  nodded  encouragement,  seeming  to 
chuckle  inwardly. 

In  the  spacious  dining  compartment  of  the 
Shepler  car  the  party  was  presently  at  lunch. 

"  You  seem  so  little  like  a  Western  man,"  Mrs. 
Milbrey  confided  graciously  to  Percival  on  her 
right. 

"  We  cal'late  he'll  fetch  out  all  straight,  though, 
in  a  year  or  so,"  put  in  Uncle  Peter,  from  over  his 
chop,  with  guileless  intent  to  defend  his  grandson 
from  what  he  believed  to  be  an  attack.  "  Of  course 
a  young  man's  bound  to  get  some  foolishness  into 
him  in  an  Eastern  college  like  this  boy  went  to." 

Percival  had  flushed  at  the  compliment  to  himself; 
also  at  the  old  man's  failure  to  identify  it  as  such. 

Mr.  Milbrey  caressed  his  glass  of  claret  with 
ardent  eyes  and  took  the  situation  in  hand  with  the 
easy  confidence  of  a  master. 

"  The  West,"  said  he,  affably,  "  has  sent  us 
some  magnificent  men.  In  truth,  it's  amazing  to 
take  count  of  the  Western  men  among  us  in  all  the 
professions.  They  are  notable,  perhaps  I  should  say, 


68  THE    SPENDERS 

less  for  deliberate  niceties  of  style  than  for  a  certain 
rough  directness,  but  so  adaptable  is  the  American 
character  that  one  frequently  does  not  suspect 
their  —  er  —  humble  origin." 

"Meaning  their  Western  origin?"  inquired  Shep- 
ler,  blandly,  with  secret  intent  to  brew  strife. 

"  Well  —  er  —  to  be  sure,  my  dear  fellow, 
not  necessarily  humble,  —  of  course  —  perhaps  I 
should  have  said  —  ' 

"Of  course,  not  necessarily  disgraceful,  as  you 
say,  Milbrey,"  interrupted  Shepler,  "and  they  often 
do  conceal  it.  Why,  I  know  a  chap  in  New  York 
who  was  positively  never  east  of  Kansas  City  until 
he  was  twenty-five  or  so,  and  yet  that  fellow 
to-day "  -  he  lowered  his  voice  to  the  pitch  of 
impressiveness  —  -  "  has  over  eighty  pairs  of  trou 
sers  and  complains  of  the  hardship  every  time  he 
has  to  go  to  Boston." 

"  Fancy,  now !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Drelmer,  the 
blonde.  Mr.  Milbrey  looked  slightly  puzzled  and 
Uncle  Peter  chuckled,  affirming  mentally  that  Rulon 
Shepler  must  be  like  one  of  those  tug-boats,  with 
most  of  his  lines  under  the  surface. 

"  But,  I  say,  you  know,  Shepler,"  protested  one 
of  the  solemn  young  men,  "  he  must  still  talk  like 
a  banjo." 

"  And  gargle  all  his  '  r's,'  "  added  the  other,  very 
earnestly.  "  They  never  get  over  that,  you  know." 

"  Instead  of  losin'  'em  entirely,"  put  in  Uncle 
Peter,  who  found  himself  feeling  what  his  grandson 
called  "  Westy."  "  Of  course,  he  calls  it  '  Ne' 


THE    SPENDERS  69 

Vuwk,'  and  prob'ly  he  don't  like  it  in  Boston  be 
cause  they  always  call  'em  '  rawroystahs.'  ' 

"  Good  for  the  old  boy!  "  thought  Percival,  and 
then,  aloud :  "  it  is  hard  for  the  West  and  the 
East  to  forgive  each  other's  dialects.  The  inflated 
4  r  '  and  the  smothered  '  r  '  never  quite  harmonise." 

"  Western  money  talks  good  straight  New  York 
talk,"  ventured  Miss  Milbrey,  with  the  air  of  one 
who  had  observed  in  her  time. 

Shepler  grinned,  and  the  parents  of  the  young 
woman  resisted  with  indifferent  success  their  twin 
impulses  to  frown. 

"  But  the  service  is  so  wretched  in  the  West," 
suggested  Oklaker,  the  carefully  dressed  little  man 
with  the  tired,  troubled  eyes,  whom  the  world  had 
been  deprived  of.  "  I  fancy,  now,  there's  not  a 
good  waiter  this  side  of  New  York." 

"  An  American,"  said  Percival,  "  never  can 
make  a  good  waiter  or  a  good  valet.  It  takes  a 
1  .atin,  or,  still  better,  a  Briton,  to  feel  the  servility 
required  for  good  service  of  that  sort.  An  Ameri 
can,  now,  always  fails  at  it  because  he  knows  he 
is  as  good  as  you  are,  and  he  knows  that  you  know 
it,  and  you  know  that  he  knows  you  know  it,  and 
there  you  are,  two  mirrors  of  American  equality 
face  to  face  and  reflecting  each  other  endlessly,  and 
neither  is  comfortable.  The  American  is  as  uncom 
fortable  at  having  certain  services  performed  for 
him  by  another  American  as  the  other  is  in  per 
forming  them.  Give  him  a  Frenchman  or  an  Italian 
or  a  fellow  born  within  the  sound  of  Bow  Bells 


yo  THE    SPENDERS 

to  clean  his  boots  and  lay  out  his  things  and  serve 
his  dinner  and  he's  all  right  enough." 

"Hear,  hear!"  cried  Uncle  Peter. 

"  Fancy,  now,"  said  Mrs.  Drelmer,  "  a  creature 
in  a  waiter's  jacket  having  emotions  of  that  sort!  " 

"  Our  excellent  country,"  said  Mr.  Milbrey,  "  is 
perhaps  not  yet  what  it  will  be;  there  is  unde 
niably  a  most  distressing  rawness  where  we  might 
expect  finish.  Now  in  Chicago,"  he  continued  in 
a  tone  suitably  hushed  for  the  relation  of  occult 
phenomena,  "  we  dined  with  a  person  who  served 
champagne  with  the  oysters,  soup,  fish,  and  entree, 
and  for  the  remainder  of  the  dinner  —  you  may 
credit  me  or  not  —  he  proffered  a  claret  of  1875  — 
I  need  hardly  remind  you,  the  most  delicate  vin 
tage  of  the  latter  half  of  the  century  —  and  it  was 
served  frappe."  There  was  genuine  emotion  in  the 
speaker's  voice. 

"  And  papa  nearly  swooned  when  our  host  put 
cracked  ice  and  two  lumps  of  sugar  into  his  own 
glass  —  ' 

"  Avice,  dear! "  remonstrated  the  father  in  a 
tone  implying  that  some  things  positively  must 
not  be  mentioned  at  table. 

"  Well,  you  shouldn't  expect  too  much  of  those 
self-made  men  in  Chicago,"  said  Shepler. 

"  If  they'd  only  make  themselves  as  well  as 
they  make  their  sausages  and  things."  sighed  Mr. 
Milbrey. 

"  And  the  self-made  man  ?cr///  talk  shop,"  sug 
gested  Oklaker.  "  He  thinks  you're  dying  to 
hear  how  he  made  the  first  thousand  of  himself." 


THE    SPENDERS  71 

"  Still,  those  Chicago  chaps  learn  quickly  enough 
when  they  settle  in  New  York,"  ventured  one  of 
the  young  men. 

"  I  knew  a  Chicago  chap  who  lived  East  two 
years  and  went  back  not  a  half  bad  sort,"  said 
the  other.  "  God  help  him  now,  though ;  his 
father  made  him  go  back  to  work  in  a  butcher  shop 
or  something  of  the  sort." 

"  Best  thing  I  ever  heard  about  Chicago,"  said 
Uncle  Peter,  "  a  man  from  your  town  told  me 
once  he  had  to  stay  in  Chicago  a  year,  and,  says 
he,  '  I  went  out  there  a  New  Yorker,  and  I  went 
home  an  American,'  he  says."  The  old  man  com 
pleted  this  anecdote  in  tones  that  were  slightly 
inflamed. 

"How  extremely  typical!"  said  Mrs.  Milbrey. 
"  Truly  the  West  is  the  place  of  unspoiled  Ameri 
canism  and  the  great  unspent  forces;  you  are 
quite  right,  Mr.  Bines." 

"  Think  of  all  the  unspent  forces  back  in  that 
silver  mine,"  remarked  Miss  Milbrey,  with  a  patent 
effort  to  be  significant. 

"  My  perverse  child  delights  to  pose  as  a 
sordid  young  woman,"  the  fond  mother  explained 
to  Percival,  "  yet  no  one  can  be  less  so,  and  you, 
Mr.  Bines,  I  am  sure,  would  be  the  last  to  suspect 
her  of  it.  I  saw  in  you  at  once  those  sterling 
qualities  — 

"  Isn't  it  dreadfully  dark  down  in  that  sterling 
silver  mine?"  observed  Miss  Milbrey,  apropos  of 
nothing,  apparently,  while  her  mother  attacked  a 
second  chop  that  she  had  meant  not  to  touch. 


72  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Here's  hoping  we'll  soon  be  back  in  God's  own 
country,"  said  Oldaker,  raising  his  glass. 

"Hear,  hear!"  cried  Uncle  Peter,  and  drained 
his  glass  eagerly  as  they  drank  the  toast.  Whereat 
they  all  laughed  and  Mrs.  Drelmer  said,  "  What 
a  dear,  lively  wit,  for  an  old  gentleman." 

"  Oldaker,"  said  Shepler,  "  has  really  been  the 
worst  sufferer.  This  is  his  first  trip  West." 

"  Beg  pardon,  Shepler !  I  was  West  as  far  as 
Buffalo  —  let  me  see  —  in  1878  or  '79." 

"Dear  me!  is  that  so?"  queried  Uncle  Peter. 
"  I  got  East  as  fur  as  Cheyenne  that  same  year. 
We  nearly  run  into  each  other,  didn't  we?" 

Shepler  grinned  again. 

"  Oldaker  found  a  man  from  New  York  on  the 
train  the  other  day,  up  in  one  of  the  emigrant  cars. 
He  was  a  truck  driver,  and  he  looked  it  and  talked 
it,  but  Oldaker  stuck  by  him  all  the  afternoon." 

"  Well,  he'd  left  the  old  town  three  weeks  after 
I  had,  and  he'd  been  torn  there  the  same  year  I 
was  —  in  the  Ninth  ward  —  and  he  remembered 
as  well  as  I  did  the  day  Barnum's  museum  burned 
at  Broadway  and  Ann.  I  liked  to  hear  him  talk. 
Why,  it  was  a  treat  just  to  hear  him  say  Broadway 
and  Twenty-third  Street,  or  Madison  Square  or 
City  Hall  Park.  The  poor  devil  had  consumption, 
too,  and  probably  he'll  never  see  them  again.  I 
don't  know  if  I  shall  ever  have  it,  but  I'd  never  leave 
the  old  town  as  he  was  doing." 

"  That's  like  Billy  Brue,"  said  Uncle  Peter. 
"  Billy  loves  faro  bank  jest  as  this  gentleman  loves 


THE    SPENDERS  73 

New  York.  When  he  gets  a  roll  he  has  to  play. 
One  time  he  landed  in  Pocatello  when  there  wa'n't 
but  one  game  in  town.  Billy  found  it  and  started 
in.  A  friend  saw  him  there  and  called  him  out. 
'Billy,'  says  he,  'cash  in  and  come  out;  that's 
a  brace  game.'  'Sure?'  says  Billy.  'Sure,'  says 
the  feller.  '  All  right,'  says  Billy,  '  much  obliged 
fur  puttin'  me  on.'  And  he  started  out  lookin' 
fur  another  game.  About  two  hours  later  the  feller 
saw  Billy  comin'  out  of  the  same  place  and  Billy 
oxvned  up  he'd  gone  back  there  and  blowed  in  every 
cent.  '  Why,  you  geezer,'  says  his  friend,  '  didn't 
I  put  you  on  that  they  was  dealin'  brace  there?' 
'  Sure,'  says  Billy,  '  sure  you  did.  But  what  could 
I  do  ?  It  was  the  only  game  in  town !  ' 

"  That  New  York  mania  is  the  same  sort,"  said 
Shepler,  laughing,  while  Mrs.  Drelmer  requested 
everybody  to  fancy  immediately. 

"  Your  grandfather  is  so  dear  and  quaint,"  said 
Mrs.  Milbrey ;  "  you  must  certainly  bring  him  to 
New  York  with  you,  for  of  course  a  young  man  of 
your  capacity  and  graces  will  never  be  satisfied  out 
of  New  York." 

"  Young  men  like  yourself  are  assuredly  needed 
there,"  remarked  Mr.  Milbrey,  warmly. 

"  Surely  they  are,"  agreed  Miss  Milbrey,  and 
yet  with  a  manner  that  seemed  almost  to  annoy 
both  parents.  They  were  sparing  no  opportunity 
to  make  the  young  man  conscious  of  his  real  one 
ness  with  those  about  him,  and  yet  subtly  to  inti 
mate  that  people  of  just  the  Milbrey s'  perception 
were  required  to  divine  it  at  present. 


74  THE   SPENDERS 

"  These  Westerners  fancy  you  one  of  themselves, 
I  dare  say,"  Mrs.  Milbrey  had  said,  and  the  young 
man  purred  under  the  strokings.  His  fever  for 
the  East  was  back  upon  him.  His  weeks  with 
Uncle  Peter  going  over  the  fields  where  his  father 
had  prevailed  had  made  him  convalescent,  but  these 
New  Yorkers  —  the  very  manner  and  atmosphere 
of  them  —  undid  the  work.  He  envied  them  their 
easier  speech,  their  matter-of-fact  air  of  omniscience, 
the  elaborate  and  cultivated  simplicity  of  their 
dress,  their  sureness  and  sufficiency  in  all  that 
they  thought  and  said  and  did.  He  was  homesick 
again  for  the  life  he  had  glimpsed.  The  West  was 
rude,  desolate,  and  depressing.  Even  Uncle  Peter, 
whom  he  had  come  warmly  to  admire,  jarred  upon 
him  with  his  crudity  and  his  Western  assertiveness. 

And  there  was  the  woman  of  the  East,  whose 
presence  had  made  the  day  to  seem  dream-like ;  and 
she  was  kind,  which  was  more  than  he  would  have 
dared  to  hope,  and  her  people,  after  their  first 
curious  chill  of  indifference,  seemed  actually  to  be 
courting  him.  She,  the  fleeting  and  impalpable 
dream-love,  whom  the  thought  of  seeing  ever 
again  had  been  wildly  absurd,  was  now  a  human 
creature  with  a  local  habitation,  the  most  beau 
tiful  name  in  the  world,  and  two  parents  whose 
complaisance  was  obvious  even  through  the  lover's 
timidity. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Up  Skiplap  Canon 

THE  meal  was  ending  in  smoke,  the  women, 
excepting    Miss     Milbrey,     having    lighted 
cigarettes    with    the    men.      The    talk    had 
grown    less    truculently    sectional.      The    Angstead 
twins    told    of    their    late    fishing    trip    to    Lake 
St.  John  for  salmon,  of  projected  tours  to  British 
Columbia    for    mountain    sheep,    and   to    Manitoba 
for  elk  and  moose. 

Mr.  Milbrey  described  with  minute  and  loving 
particularity  the  preparation  of  &ufs  de  Faisan, 
tn'cc  bcurre  an  champagne. 

Mrs.  Milbrey  related  an  anecdote  of  New  York 
society,  not  much  in  itself,  but  which  permitted 
the  disclosure  that  she  habitually  addressed  by  their 
first  names  three  of  the  foremost  society  leaders, 
and  that  each  of  these  personages  adopted  a  like 
familiarity  toward  her. 

Mrs.  Drelmer  declared  that  she  meant  to  have 
Uncle  Peter  Bines  at  one  of  her  evenings  the  very 
first  time  he  should  come  to  New  York,  and  that, 
if  he  didn't  let  her  know  of  his  coming,  she  would 
be  offended. 

75 


76  THE    SPENDERS 

Oldaker  related  an  incident  of  the  ball  given  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  travelling  as  Baron  Renfrew, 
on  the  evening  of  October  12,  1860,  in  which  his 
father  had  figured  briefly  before  the  royal  guest 
to  the  abiding  credit  of  American  tact  and  gen 
tility. 

Shepler  was  amused  until  he  became  sleepy, 
whereupon  he  extended  the  freedom  of  his  castle 
to  his  guests,  and  retired  to  his  stateroom. 

Uncle  Peter  took  a  final  shot  at  Oldaker.  He 
was  observed  to  be  laughing,  and  inquiry  brought 
this: 

"  I  jest  couldn't  help  snickerin'  over  his  idee  of 
God's  own  country.  He  thinks  God's  own  coun 
try  is  a  little  strip  of  an  island  with  a  row  of 
well-fed  folks  up  and  down  the  middle,  and  a  lot 
of  hungry  folks  on  each  side.  Mebbe  he's  right. 
I'll  be  bound,  it  needs  the  love  of  God.  But  if  it 
is  His  own  country,  it  don't  make  Him  any  conny- 
soor  of  countries  with  me.  I'll  tell  you  that." 

Oldaker  smiled  at  this  assault,  the  well-bred, 
tolerant  smile  that  loyal  New  Yorkers  reserve  for 
all  such  barbaric  belittling  of  their  empire.  Then 
he  politely  asked  Uncle  Peter  to  show  Mrs.  Drelmer 
and  himself  through  the  stamp  mill. 

At  Percival's  suggestion  of  a  walk,  Miss  Mil- 
brey  was  delighted. 

After  an  inspection  of  the  Bines  car,  in  which 
Oldaker  declared  he  would  be  willing  to  live  for 
ever,  if  it  could  be  anchored  firmly  in  Madison 
Square,  the  party  separated. 


THE    SPENDERS  77 

Out  into  the  clear  air,  already  cooling  under  the 
slanting  rays  of  the  sun,  the  young  man  and  the 
girl  went  together.  Behind  them  lay  the  one  street 
of  the  little  mining  camp,  with  its  wooden  shan 
ties  on  either  side  of  the  railroad  track.  Down 
this  street  Uncle  Peter  had  gone,  leading  his 
charges  toward  the  busy  ant-hill  on  the  mountain 
side.  Ahead  the  track  wound  up  the  canon,  cun 
ningly  following  the  tortuous  course  of  the  little 
river  to  be  sure  of  practicable  grades.  On  the 
farther  side  of  the  river  a  mountain  road  paralleled 
the  railway.  Up  this  road  the  two  went,  followed 
by  a  playful  admonition  from  Mrs.  Milbrey : 
"  Remember,  Mr.  Bines,  I  place  my  child  in  your 
keeping." 

Percival  waxed  conscientious  about  his  charge 
and  insisted  at  once  upon  being  assured  that  Miss 
Milbrey  would  be  warm  enough  with  the  scarlet 
golf-cape  about  her  shoulders ;  that  she  was  used 
to  walking  long  distances ;  that  her  boots  were 
stoutly  soled;  and  that  she  didn't  mind  the  sun 
in  their  faces.  The  girl  laughed  at  him. 

Looking  up  the  canon  with  its  wooded  sides, 
cool  and  green,  they  could  see  a  grey,  dim  moun 
tain,  with  patches  of  snow  near  its  top,  in  the  far 
distance,  and  ranges  of  lesser  eminences  stepping 
up  to  it.  "  It's  a  hundred  miles  away,"  he  told 
her. 

Down  the  canon  the  little  river  flickered  toward 
them,  like  a  billowy  silver  ribbon  "  trimmed  with 
white  chiffon  around  the  rocks,"  declared  the  girl. 


78  THE   SPENDERS 

In  the  blue  depths  of  the  sky,  an  immense  height 
above,  lolled  an  eagle,  lazy  of  wing,  in  lordly 
indolence.  The  suggestions  to  the  eye  were  all 
of  spacious  distances  and  large  masses  —  of  the 
room  and  stuff  for  unbounded  action. 

"  Your  West  is  the  breathingest  place,"  she  said, 
as  they  crossed  a  foot-bridge  over  the  noisy  little 
stream  and  turned  up  the  road.  "  I  don't  believe 
I  ever  drew  a  full  breath  until  I  came  to  these 
altitudes." 

"  One  has  to  breathe  more  air  here  —  there's  less 
oxygen  in  it,  and  you  must  breathe  more  to  get 
your  share,  and  so  after  awhile  one  becomes  robust. 
Your  cheeks  are  already  glowing,  and  we've  hardly 
started.  There,  now,  there  are  your  colours,  see  — 

Along  the  edge  of  the  green  pines  and  spruce 
were  lavender  asters.  A  little  way  in  the  woods 
they  could  see  the  blue  columbines  and  the  mountain 
phlox,  pink  and  red. 

"  There  are  your  eyes  and  your  cheeks." 

"  What  a  dangerous  character  you'd  be  if  you 
were  sent  to  match  silks!  " 

On  the  dry  barren  slopes  of  gravel  across  the 
river,  full  in  the  sun's  glare,  grew  the  Spanish 
bayonet,  with  its  spikes  of  creamy  white  flowers. 

"  There  I  am,  more  nearly,"  she  pointed  to  them ; 
"  they're  ever  so  much  nearer  my  disposition.  But 
about  this  thin  air ;  it  must  make  men  work  harder 
for  what  comes  easier  back  in  our  country,  so  that 
they  may  become  able  to  do  more  —  more  capable. 
I  am  thinking  of  your  grandfather.  You  don't 


THE    SPENDERS  79 

know  how  much  I  admire  him.  He  is  so  stanch  and 
strong  and  fresh.  There's  more  fire  in  him  now 
than  in  my  father  or  Launton  Oldaker,  and  I  dare 
say  he's  a  score  of  years  older  than  either  of  them. 
1  don't  think  you  quite  appreciate  what  a  great 
old  fellow  he  is." 

"  I  admire  Uncle  Peter  much  more,   I'm  sure, 
than  he  admires  me.     He's  afraid  I'm  not  strong 
enough  to  admire  that  Eastern  climate  of  yours  — 
social  and  moral." 

"  I  suppose  it's  natural  for  you  to  wish  to  go. 
You'd  be  bored  here,  would  you  not?  You  couldn't 
stay  in  these  mountains  and  be  such  a  man  as 
your  grandfather.  And  yet  there  ought  to  be  so 
much  to  do  here;  it's  all  so  fresh  and  roomy  and 
jolly.  Really  I've  grown  enthusiastic  about  it." 

"  Ah,  but  think  of  what  there  is  in  the  East  — 
and  you  are  there.  To  think  that  for  six  months 
I've  treasured  every  little  memory  of  you  —  such  a 
funny  little  lot  as  they  were  —  to  think  that  this 
morning  I  awoke  thinking  of  you,  yet  hardly  hoping 
ever  to  see  you,  and  to  think  that  for  half  the  night 
we  had  ridden  so  near  each  other ,  in  sleep,  and 
there  was  no  sign  or  signal  or  good  omen.  And 
then  to  think  you  should  burst  upon  me  like  some 
new  sunrise  that  the  stupid  astronomers  hadn't 
predicted. 

"  You  see,"  he  went  on,  after  a  moment,  "  I 
don't  ask  what  you  think  of  me.  You  couldn't 
think  anything  much  as  yet,  but  there's  something 
about  this  whole  affair,  our  meeting  and  all,  that 


8o  THE    SPENDERS 

makes  me  think  it's  going  to  be  symmetrical  in  the 
end.  I  know  it  won't  end  here.  I'll  tell  you  one 
way  Western  men  learn.  They  learn  not  to  be 
afraid  to  want  things  out  of  their  reach,  and  they 
believe  devoutly  —  because  they've  proved  it  so 
often  —  that  if  you  want  a  thing  hard  enough  and 
keep  wanting  it,  nothing  can  keep  it  away  from 
you." 

A  bell  had  been  tinkling  nearer  and  nearer  on  the 
road  ahead.  Now  a  heavy  wagon,  filled  with  sacks 
of  ore,  came  into  view,  drawn  by  four  mules.  As 
they  stood  aside  to  let  it  pass  he  scanned  her  face 
for  any  sign  it  might  show,  but  he  could  see  no 
more  than  a  look  of  interest  for  the  brawny  driver 
of  the  wagon,  shouting  musically  to  his  straining 
team. 

"  You  are  rather  inscrutable,"  he  said,  as  they 
resumed  the  road. 

She  turned  and  smiled  into  his  eyes  with  utter 
frankness. 

"  At  least  you  must  be  sure  that  I  like  you;  that 
I  am  very  friendly ;  that  I  want  to  know  you  better, 
and  want  you  to  know  me  better.  You  don't  know 
me  at  all,  you  know.  You  Westerners  have  another 
way,  of  accepting  people  too  readily.  It  may  work 
no  harm  among  yourselves,  but  perhaps  Easterners 
are  a  bit  more  perilous.  Sometimes,  now,  a  very 
Eastern  person  doesn't  even  accept  herself  —  him 
self  —  very  trustingly ;  she  —  he  —  finds  it  so  hard 
to  get  acquainted  with  himself." 

The  young  man  provided  one  of  those  silences 


THE    SPENDERS  81 

of  which  a  few  discerning'  men  are  instinctively 
capable  and  for  which  women  thank  them. 

"  This  road,"  she  said,  after  a  little  time  of 
rapid  walking',  "  leads  right  up  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  doesn't  it?  See,  it  ends  squarely  in  the  sun." 
They  stopped  where  the  turn  had  opened  to  the  west 
a  long  vista  of  grey  and  purple  hills  far  and 
high.  They  stood  on  a  ridge  of  broken  quartz  and 
gneiss,  thrown  up  in  a  bygone  age.  To  their  left 
a  few  dwarf  Scotch  firs  threw  shadows  back  toward 
the  town.  The  ball  of  red  fire  in  the  west  was 
half  below  the  rim  of  the  distant  peak. 

"  Stand  so,"  —  she  spoke  in  a  slightly  hushed 
tone  that  moved  him  a  step  nearer  almost  to  touch 
her  arm,  —  "  and  feel  the  round  little  earth  turning 
with  us.  We  always  think  the  sun  drops  down 
away  from  us,  but  it  stays  still.  Now  remember 
your  astronomy  and  feel  the  earth  turn.  See  —  you 
can  actually  see  it  move  —  whirling  along  like  a 
child's  ball  because  it  can't  help  itself,  and  then 
there's  the  other  motion  around  the  sun,  and  the 
other,  the  rushing  of  everything  through  space,  and 
who  knows  how  many  others,  and  yet  we  plan 
our  futures  and  think  we  shall  do  finely  this  way 
or  that,  and  always  forget  that  we're  taken  along 
in  spite  of  ourselves.  Sometimes  I  think  I  shall 
give  up  trying:  and  then  I  see  later  that  even  that 
feeling  was  one  of  the  unknown  motions  that  I 
couldn't  control.  The  only  thing  we  know  is  that 
we  are  moved  in  spite  of  ourselves,  so  what  is  the 
use  of  bothering'  about  how  many  ways,  or  where 
they  shall  fetch  us  ?  " 


82  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Ah,  Miss  Khayyam,  I've  often  read  your 
father's  verses." 

"  No  relation  whatever;  we're  the  same  person 
—  he  was  I." 

"  But  don't  forget  you  can  see  the  earth  moving 
by  a  rising  as  well  as  by  a  setting  star,  by  watching 
a  sun  rise  — 

"  A  rising  star  if  you  wish,"  she  said,  smiling 
once  more  with  perfect  candour  and  friendliness. 

They  turned  to  go  back  in  the  quick-coming 
mountain  dusk. 

As  they  started  downward  she  sang  from  the 
'•'  Persian  Garden,"  and  he  blended  his  voice  with 
hers : 

"  Myself  when  young  did  eagerly  frequent 
Doctor  and  Saint  and  heard  great  argument 

About  it  and  about :  but  evermore 
Came  out  by  the  same  door  where  in  I  went. 

"  With  them  the  seed  of  Wisdom  did  I  sow, 
And  with  my  own  hand  wrought  to  make  it  grow; 

And  this  was  all  the  Harvest  that  I  reaped  — 
'  I  came  like  Water  and  like  Wind  I  go.' " 

"  I  shall  look  forward  to  seeing  you  —  and  your 
mother  and  sister?  —  in  New  York,"  she  said, 
when  they  parted,  "  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  have 
more  to  say  when  we're  better  known  to  each  other." 

"  If  you  were  the  one  woman  before,  if  the 
thought  of  you  was  more  than  the  substance  of 
any  other  to  me,  —  you  must  know  how  it  will  be 


THE    SPENDERS  83 

now,  when  the  dream  has  come  true.  It's  no  small 
thing  for  your  best  dream  to  come  true." 

"  Dear  me !  haven't  we  been  sentimental  and 
philosophic?  I'm  never  like  this  at  home,  I  assure 
you.  I've  really  been  thoughtful." 

From  up  the  canon  came  the  sound  of  a  puffing 
locomotive  that  presently  steamed  by  them  with 
its  three  dingy  little  coaches,  and,  after  a  stop  for 
water  and  the  throwing  of  a  switch,  pushed  back 
to  connect  with  the  Shepler  car. 

The  others  of  the  party  crowded  out  on  to  the 
rear  platform  as  Percival  helped  Miss  Milbrey  up 
the  steps.  Uncle  Peter  had  evidently  been  chatting 
with  Shepler,  for  as  they  came  out  the  old  man  was 
saying,  "  '  Get  action  '  is  my  motto.  Do  things. 
Don't  fritter.  Be  something  and  be  it  good  and 
hard.  Get  action  early  and  often." 

Shepler  nodded.  "  But  men  like  us  are  apt  to 
be  unreasonable  with  the  young.  We  expect  them  to 
have  their  own  vigour  and  our  wisdom,  and  the 
infirmities  of  neither." 

The  good-byes  were  hastily  said,  and  the  little 
train  rattled  down  the  canon.  Miss  Milbrey  stood 
in  the  door  of  the  car,  and  Percival  watched  her 
while  the  glistening  rails  that  seemed  to  be  pushing 
her  away  narrowed  in  perspective.  She  stood  mo 
tionless  and  inscrutable  to  the  last,  but  still  looking 
steadily  toward  him  —  almost  wistfully,  it  seemed 
to  him  once. 

"  Well,"  he  said  cheerfully  to  Uncle  Peter. 

"  You    know,    son,    I    don't    like    to    cuss,    but 


84  THE    SPENDERS 

except  one  or  two  of  them  folks  I'd  sooner  live 
in  the  middle  kittle  of  hell  than  in  the  place  that 
turns  'em  out.  They  rile  me  —  that  talk  about 
'  people  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life.'  Of  course 
I  am  humble,  but  then,  son,  if  you  come  right  down 
to  it,  as  the  feller  said,  I  ain't  so  damned  humble!  " 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Three  Letters,  Private  and  Confidential 

From  Mr.  Percival  Bines  to  Miss  Psyche  Bines, 
Montana  City. 

ON  CAR  AT  SKIPLAP,  Tuesday  Night. 

DEAR    SIS :  —  When    you    kept    nagging   me 
about  "Who  is  the  girl?"  and  I  said  you 
could  search  me,  you  wouldn't  have  it  that 
way.      But,   honestly,   until   this   morning  I   didn't 
know  her  myself.     Now  that  I  can  put  you  next, 
here  goes. 

One  night  last  March,  after  I'd  come  back  from 
the  other  side,  I  happened  into  a  little  theatre  on 
Broadway  where  a  burlesque  was  running.  It's  a 
rowdy  little  place  —  a  music  hall  —  but  nice  people 
go  there  because,  though  it's  stuffy,  it's  kept  decent. 
She  was  in  a  box  with  two  men  —  one  old 
and  one  young  —  and  an  older  woman.  As  soon 
as  I  saw  her  she  had  me  lashed  to  the  mast  in  a 
high  sea,  with  the  great  salt  waves  dashing  over 
me.  I  never  took  much  stock  in  the  tales  about 
its  happening  at  first  sight,  but  they're  as  matter- 
of-fact  as  market  reports.  Soon  as  I  looked  at 

85 


86  THE    SPENDERS 

her  it  seemed  to  me  I'd  known  her  always.  I  was 
sure  we  knew  each  other  better  than  any  two  people 
between  the  Battery  and  Yonkers,  and  that  I  wasn't 
acting  sociable  to  sit  down  there  away  from  her 
and  pretend  we  were  Strangers  Yet.  Actually,  it 
rattled  me  so  I  had  to  take  the  full  count.  If  I 
hadn't  been  wedged  in  between  a  couple  of  people 
that  filled  all  the  space,  and  then  some,  it  isn't  any 
twenty  to  one  that  I  wouldn't  have  gone  right  up  to 
her  and  asked  her  what  she  meant  by  cutting  me.  I 
was  udgy  enough  for  it.  But  I  kept  looking  and 
after  awhile  I  was  able  to  sit  up  and  ask  what 
hit  me. 

She  was  dressed  in  something  black  and  kind 
of  shiny  and  wore  a  big  black  hat  fussed  up  with 
little  red  roses,  and  her  face  did  more  things  to 
me  in  a  minute  than  all  the  rest  I've  ever  seen.  It 
was  full  of  little  kissy  places.  Her  lips  were  very 
red  and  her  teeth  were  very  white,  and  I  couldn't 
tell  about  her  eyes.  But  she  was  bred  up  to  the 
last  notch,  I  could  see  that. 

Well,  I  watched  her  through  the  tobacco  smoke 
until  the  last  curtain  fell.  They  were  putting  on 
wraps  for  a  minute  or  so,  and  I  noticed  that  the 
young  fellow  in  the  party,  who'd  been  drinking 
all  through  the  show,  \vasn't  a  bit  too  steady  to  do 
an  act  on  the  high-wire.  They  left  the  box  and 
came  down  the  stairs  and  I  bunched  into  the  crowd 
and  let  myself  ooze  out  with  them,  wondering  if 
I'd  ever  see  her  again. 

I  fetched  up  at  an  exit  on  the  side  street,  and 


THE    SPENDERS  87 

there  they  were  directly  in  front  of  me.  I  just 
naturally  drifted  to  one  side  and  continued  my 
little  private  corner  in  crude  rubber.  It  was  driz 
zling  in  a  beastly  way,  the  street  was  full  of  car 
riages,  numbers  were  being  called,  cab-drivers  were 
insulting  each  other  hoarsely,  people  dashing  out 
to  see  if  their  carriages  weren't  coming  —  every 
thing  in  a  whirl  of  drizzle  and  dark  and  yells,  with 
the  horses'  hoofs  on  the  pavement  sounding  like 
castanets.  The  two  older  people  got  into  a  carriage 
and  were  driven  off,  while  she  and  the  young  fellow 
waited  for  theirs.  I  could  see  then  that  he  was 
good  and  soused.  He  was  the  same  lad  they  throw 
on  the  screen  when  the  "  Old  Homestead  "  Quartet 
sings  "Where  Is  My  Wandering  Boy  To-night?" 
T  could  see  she  was  annoyed  and  a  little  worried, 
because  he  was  past  taking  notice. 

The  man  kept  yelling  the  number  of  their  car 
riage  from  time  to  time,  while  the  others  he'd  called 
were  driving  up  —  it  was  249  if  any  one  ever  tries 
to  worm  it  out  of  you  —  and  then  I  saw  from  her 
face  that  249  had  wriggled  pretty  near  to  the  curb, 
but  was  still  kept  away  by  another  carriage.  She 
said  something  to  the  drunken  cub  and  started 
to  reach  the  carriage  by  going  out  into  the  street 
behind  the  one  in  its  way.  At  the  same  time  their 
carriage  started  forward,  and  the  inebriate,  instead 
of  going  with  her.  started  the  other  way  to  meet 
it.  and  so,  there  she  was  alone  on  the  slippery 
pavement  in  this  muddle  of  prancing  horses  and 
yelling  terriers. 


88  THE    SPENDERS 

If  you  can  get  any  bets  that  I  was  more  than 
two  seconds  getting  out  there  to  her,  take  them 
all,  and  give  better  than  track  odds  if  necessary. 
Then  I  guess  she  got  rattled,  for  when  I  would 
have  led  her  back  to  the  curb  she  made  a  dash 
the  other  way  and  all  but  slipped  under  a  team 
of  bays  that  were  just  aching  to  claw  the  roses  off 
her  hat.  I  saw  she  was  helpless  and  "  turned 
around,"  so  I  just  naturally  grabbed  her  and  she 
was  so  frightened  by  this  time  that  she  grabbed  me, 
and  the  result  was  that  I  carried  her  to  the  sidewalk 
and  set  her  down.  Their  carriage  still  stood  there 
with  little  Georgie  Rumlets  screaming  to  the  driver 
to  go  on.  I  had  her  inside  in  a  jiffy,  and  they 
were  off.  Not  a  word  about  "My  Preserver!'' 
though,  of  course,  with  the  fright  and  noise  and 
her  mortification,  that  was  natural. 

After  that,  you  can  believe  it  or  not,  she  was 
the  girl.  And  I  never  dreamed  of  seeing  her  any 
place  but  New  York  again. 

Well,  this  morning  when  I  came  up  from  below 
at  the  mine  she  was  standing  there  as  if  she 
had  been  waiting  for  me.  She  is  Miss  Avice  Mil- 
brey,  of  New  York.  Her  father  and  mother  —  fine 
people,  the  real  thing,  I  judge  —  were  with  her, 
members  of  a  party  Rulon  Shepler  has  with  him 
on  his  car.  They've  been  here  all  day;  went 
through  the  mine;  had  lunch  with  them,  and  later 
a  walk  \vith  her,  they  leaving  at  5.30  for  the 
East.  We  got  on  fairly  well,  considering.  She 
is  a  wonder,  if  anybody  cross-examines  you.  She 


THE    SPENDERS  89 

is  about  your  height,  I  should  judge,  about  five  feet 
four,  though  not  so  plump  as  you ;  still  her  look 
of  slenderness  is  deceptive.  She's  one  of  the  build 
that  aren't  so  big  as  they  look,  nor  yet  so  small 
as  they  look.  Thoroughbred  is  the  word  for  her, 
style  and  action,  as  the  horse  people  say,  perfect. 
The  poise  of  her  head,  her  mettlesome  manner,  her 
walk,  show  that  she's  been  bred  up  like  a  Derby 
winner.  Her  face  is  the  one  all  the  aristocrats  are 
copied  from,  finely  cut  nose,  chin  firm  but  dainty, 
lips  just  delicately  full  and  the  reddest  ever,  and 
her  colour  when  she  has  any  a  rose-pink.  I  don't 
know  that  I  can  give  you  her  eyes.  You  only  see 
first  that  they're  deep  and  clear,  but  as  near  as 
anything  they  are  the  warm  slatish  lavender  blue 
you  see  in  the  little  fall  asters.  She  has  so  much 
hair  it  makes  her  head  look  small,  a  sort  of  light 
chestnut,  with  warmish  streaks  in  it.  Transparent 
is  another  word  for  her.  You  can  look  right 
through  her  —  eyes  and  skin  are  so  clear.  Her 
nature  too  is  the  frank,  open  kind,  "  step  in  and 
examine  our  stock ;  no  trouble  to  show  goods  " 
and  all  that,  and  she  is  so  beautifully  unconscious 
of  her  beauty  that  it  goes  double.  At  times  she 
gave  me  a  queer  little  impression  of  being  older  at 
the  game  than  I  am,  though  she  can't  be  a  day  over 
twenty,  but  I  guess  that's  because  she's  been 
around  in  society  so  much.  Probably  she'd  be 
called  the  typical  New  York  girl,  if  you  wanted 
to  talk  talky  talk. 

Now   I've  told   you  everything,   except  that  the 


90  THE    SPENDERS 

people  all  asked  kindly  after  you,  especially  her 
mother  and  a  Mrs.  Drelmer,  who's  a.  four-horse 
team  all  by  herself.  Oh,  yes !  No,  I  can't  remember 
very  well ;  some  kind  of  a  brown  walking  skirt, 
short,  and  high  boots  and  one  of  those  blue  striped 
shirt-waists,  the  squeezy  looking  kind,  and  when 
we  went  to  walk,  a  red  plaid  golf  cape;  and  for 
general  all-around  dearness  —  say,  the  other  entries 
would  all  turn  green  and  have  to  be  withdrawn.  If 
any  one  thinks  this  thing  is  going  to  end  here  you 
make  a  book  on  it  right  away;  take  all  you  can 
get.  Little  Willie  Lushlets  was  her  brother  —  a 
lovely  boy  if  you  get  to  talking  reckless.  With  love 
to  Lady  Abercrombie.  and  trusting,  my  dear 
Countess,  to  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  at 
Henley  a  fortnight  hence,  I  remain, 
Most  cordially  yours, 

E.  MALVERN  DEVYR  ST.  TREVORS, 

Bart.  &  Notary  Public. 

From  Mrs.  Joseph  Drelmer  to  the  Hon.  Cecil  G. 
H.  M  auburn,  New  York. 

EN  ROUTE,  August  28th. 

MY  DEAR  MAUBURN  :  —  Ever  hear  of  the  tribe 
of  Bines?  If  not,  you  need  to.  The  father, 
immensely  wealthy,  died  a  bit  ago,  leaving  a 
widow  and  two  children,  one  of  the  latter  being 
a  marriageable  daughter  in  more  than  the  merely 
technical  sense.  There  is  also  a  grandfather,  now 
a  little  descended  into  the  vale  of  years,  who,  thev 


THE    SPENDERS  91 

tell  me,  has  almost  as  many  dollars  as  you  or  1 
would  know  what  to  do  with,  a  queer  old  chap 
who  lounges  about  the  mountains  and  looks  as  if  he 
might  have  anything  but  money.  We  met  the  son 
and  the  old  man  at  one  of  their  mines  yesterday. 
They  have  a  private  car  as  large  as  Shepler's  and 
even  more  sybaritic,  and  they'd  been  making  a  tour 
of  inspection  over  their  properties.  They  lunched 
with  us.  Knowing  the  Milbreys,  you  will  divine 
the  warmth  of  their  behaviour  toward  the  son. 
It  was  too  funny  at  first.  Avice  was  the  only  one 
to  suspect  at  once  that  he  was  the  very  considerable 
personage  he  is,  and  so  she  promptly  sequestered 
him,  with  a  skill  born  of  her  long  practice,  in  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  somewhere  near  China,  I  fancy. 
Her  dear  parents  were  furious.  Dressed  as  one  of 
the  miners  they  took  him  to  be  an  employee.  The 
whole  party,  taking  the  cue  from  outraged  parent 
hood,  treated  him  icily  when  he  emerged  from  one 
of  those  subterranean  galleries  with  that  tender 
sprig  of  girlishness.  That  is,  we  were  icy  until, 
on  the  way  up,  he  remaining  in  the  depths,  Avice's 
dear  mother  began  to  rebuke  the  thoughtless  minx 
for  her  indiscretion  of  strolling  through  the  earth 
with  a  working  person.  Then  Avice,  sweet  chatter 
box,  with  joyful  malice  revealed  that  the  young  man, 
whose  name  none  of  us  had  caught,  was  Bines,  and 
that  he  owned  the  mine  we  were  in,  and  she  didn't 
know  how  many  others,  nor  did  she  believe  he 
knew  himself.  You  should  have  felt  the  tempera 
ture  rise.  It  went  up  faster  than  we  were  going. 


92  THE    SPENDERS 

By  the  time  we  reached  the  surface  the  two  Milbreys 
wore  looks  that  would  have  made  the  angel  of 
peace  and  good-will  look  full  of  hatred  and  distrust. 
Nothing  would  satisfy  them  but  that  we  wait  to 
thank  the  young  Croesus  for  his  courtesy.  I 
waited  because  I  remembered  the  daughter,  and 
Oldaker  and  the  Angstead  twins  waited  out  of 
decency.  And  when  the  genius  of  the  mine  appeared 
from  out  his  golden  catacombs  we  fell  upon  him 
in  desperate  kindness. 

Later  in  the  day  I  learned  from  him  that  he 
expects  to  bring  his  mother  and  sister  to  New 
York  this  fall,  and  that  they  mean  to  make  their 
home  there  hereafter.  Of  course  that  means  that 
the  girl  has  notions  of  marriage.  What  made  me 
think  so  quickly  of  her  is  that  in  San  Francisco, 
at  a  theatre  last  winter,  she  was  pointed  out  to  me, 
and  while  I  do  you  not  the  injustice  of  supposing 
it  would  make  the  least  difference  to  you,  she  is 
rather  a  beauty,  you'll  find ;  figure  fullish,  yellow- 
hair,  and  a  good-natured,  well-featured,  pleasing 
sort  of  face ;  a  bit  rococo  in  manner,  I  suspect ;  a 
little  too  San  Francisco,  as  so  many  of  these  Western 
beauties  are,  but  you'd  not  mind  that,  and  a  year  in 
New  York  will  tone  her  down  anyway. 

Now  if  your  dear  uncle  will  only  confer  a 
lasting  benefit  upon  the  world  and  his  title  upon 
you,  by  paying  the  only  debt  he  is  ever  liable  to 
pay,  I  am  persuaded  you  could  be  the  man  here. 
I  know  nothing  of  how  the  fortune  was  left,  nor 
of  its  extent,  except  that  it's  said  to  be  stiffish,  and 


SPENDERS  93 

out  here  that  means  a  big,  round  sum.  The  reason 
I  write  promptly  is  that  you  may  not  go  out  of 
the  country  just  now.  That  sweet  little  Milbrey 
chit  —  really,  Avice  is  far  too  old  now  for  ingenue 
parts  —  has  not  only  grappled  the  son  with  hooks 
of  steel,  but  from  remarks  the  good  mother  dropped 
concerning  the  fine  qualities  of  her  son,  she  means 
to  convert  the  daughter's  dot  into  Milbrey  prestige, 
also.  What  a  glorious  double  stroke  it  would  be, 
after  all  their  years  of  trying.  However,  with  your 
title,  even  in  prospective,  Fred  Milbrey  is  no  rival 
for  you  to  fear,  providing  you  are  on  the  ground 
as  soon  as  he,  which  is  why  I  wish  you  to  stay 
in  New  York. 

I  am  indeed  gratified  that  you  have  broken  off 
whatever  affair  there  may  have  been  between  you 
and  that  music-hall  person.  Really,  you  know, 
though  they  talk  so  about  us.  a  young  man  can't 
mess  about  with  that  sort  of  thing  in  New  York 
as  he  can  in  London.  So  I'm  glad  she's  gone 
back,  and  as  she  is  in  no  position  to  harm  you  I 
should  pay  no  attention  to  her  threats.  What  under 
heaven  did  the  creature  expect?  Why  should  she 
have  wanted  to  marry  you? 

I  shall  see  you  probably  in  another  fortnight. 

You  know  that  Milbrey  girl  must  get  her  effront 
ery  direct  from  where  they  make  it.  She  pre 
tended  that  at  first  she  took  young  Bines  for  what 
we  all  took  him,  an  employee  of  the  mine.  You 
can  almost  catch  them  winking  at  each  other, 
when  she  tells  it,  and  dear  mamma  with  such  beau- 


94  THE    SPENDERS 

tiful  resignation,  says,  "  My  Avice  is  so  impul 
sively  democratic."  Dear  Avice,  you  know,  is  really 
quite  as  impulsive  as  the  steel  bridge  our  train  has 
just  rattled  over.  Sincerely, 

JOSEPHINE  PRESTON  DRELMER. 


From  Miss  Avice  Milbrey  to  Mrs.  Cornelia   Van 
Geist,  New  York. 

Miitterchen,  dearest,  I  feel  like  that  green  hunter 
you  had  to  sell  last  spring  —  the  one  that  would  go 
at  a  fence  with  the  most  perfect  display  of  serious 
intentions,  and  then  balk  and  bolt  when  it  came 
to  jumping.  Can  it  be  that  I,  who  have  been 
trained  from  the  cradle  to  the  idea  of  marrying  for 
money,  will  bolt  the  gate  after  all  the  expense  and 
pains  lavished  upon  my  education  to  this  end ; 
after  the  years  spent  in  learning  how  to  enchant, 
subdue,  and  exploit  the  most  useful  of  all  animals, 
and  the  most  agreeable,  barring  a  few?  And  yet. 
right  when  I'm  the  fittest  — -  twenty-four  years  old, 
knowing  all  my  good  points  and  just  how  to 
coerce  the  most  admiration  for  each,  able  nicely  to 
calculate  the  exact  disturbing  effect  of  the  ensemble 
upon  any  poor  male,  and  feeling  confident  of  my 
excessively  eligible  parti  when  I  decide  for  him  — 
in  this  situation,  striven  for  so  earnestly,  I  feel 
like  bolting  the  bars.  How  my  trainer  and  jockey 
would  weep  tears  of  rage  and  despair  if  they 
guessed  it ! 

There,   there  —  I  know  your  shrewd  grey  eyes 


THE    SPENDERS  95 

are  crackling  with  curiosity  and  you  want  to  know 
what  it's  all  about,  whether  to  scold  me  or  mother 
me,  and  will  I  please  omit  the  entrees  and  get  to 
the  roast  mutton.  But  you  dear,  dear  old  aunt, 
you,  there  is  more  vagueness  than  detail,  and  I 
know  I'll  strain  your  patience  before  I've  done. 
But,  to  relieve  your  mind,  nothing  at  all  has  really 
happened.  After  all,  it's  mostly  a  troublesome  state 
of  mind,  that  I  shall  doubtless  find  gone  when  we 
reach  Jersey  City,  —  and  in  two  ways  this  Western 
trip  is  responsible  for  it.  Do  you  know  the  journey 
itself  has  been  fascinating.  Too  bad  so  many  of 
us  cross  the  ocean  twenty  times  before  we  know 
anything  of  this  country.  We  loiter  in  Paris,  do  the 
stupid  German  watering-places,  the  Norway  fiords, 
down  to  Italy  for  the  museums,  see  the  chateaux 
of  the  Loire,  or  do  the  English  race-tracks,  thinking 
we're  'mused ;  and  all  the  time  out  here  where  the 
sun  goes  down  is  an  intensely  interesting  and 
beautiful  country  of  our  own  that  we  overlook. 
You  know  I'd  never  before  been  even  as  far  as 
Chicago.  Now  for  the  first  time  I  can  appreciate 
lots  of  those  things  in  Whitman,  that- 

"  I  think  heroic  deeds  were  all  conceived  in  the  open  air,  and 

free  poems,  also. 

Now  I  see  the  secret  of  making  the  best  persons : 
It  is  to  grow  in  the  open  air  and  to  eat  and  sleep  with  the 

earth." 

I  mayn't  have  quoted  correctly,  but  you  know 
the  sort  of  thing  I  mean,  that  sounds  so  breezy  and 


96  THE    SPENDERS 

stimulating.  And  they've  helped  me  understand  the 
immensity  of  the  landscapes  and  the  ideas  out  here, 
the  big,  throbbing,  rough  young  life,  and  under  it 
all,  as  Whitman  says,  "  a  meaning  —  Democracy, 
American  Democracy."  Really  it's  been  interesting, 
the  j oiliest  time  of  my  life,  and  it's  got  me  all 
unsettled.  More  than  once  in  watching  some  scene 
typical  of  the  region,  the  plain,  busy,  earnest  people, 
I've  actually  thrilled  to  think  that  this  was  my 
country  —  felt  that  queer  little  tickling  tingle  that 
locates  your  spine  for  you.  I'm  sure  there's  no 
ennui  here.  Some  one  said  the  other  day,  "  Ennui  is 
a  disease  that  comes  from  living  on  other  people's 
money."  I  said  no,  that  I'd  often  had  as  fine  an 
attack  as  if  I'd  been  left  a  billion,  that  ennui  is 
when  you  don't  know  what  to  do  next  and  wouldn't 
do  it  if  you  did.  Well,  here  they  always  do  know 
what  to  do  next,  and  as  one  of  them  told  me, 
"  We  always  get  up  early  the  day  before  to  do  it." 

Auntie,  dear,  the  trip  has  made  me  more  restless 
and  dissatisfied  than  ever.  It  makes  me  want  to 
do  something  —  to  risk  something,  to  want  to  want 
something  more  than  I've  ever  learned  to  want. 

That's  one  reason  I'm  acting  badly.  The  other 
will  interest  you  more. 

It's  no  less  a  reason  than  the  athletic  young 
Bayard  who  cheated  those  cab-horses  of  their  prey 
that  night  Fred  didn't  drink  all  the  Scotch  whiskey 
in  New  York.  Our  meeting,  and  the  mater's  treat 
ment  of  him  before  she  discovered  who  he  was, 
are  too  delicious  to  write.  I  must  wait  to  tell  you. 


THE    SPENDERS  97 

It's  enough  to  say  now  that  though  I  heard  his 
name  it  recalled  nothing  to  me,  and  I  took  him 
from  his  dress  to  be  a  ivorkingman  in  the  mine  we 
were  visiting,  though  from  his  speech  and  manner 
of  a  gentleman,  some  one  in  authority.  Dear,  he 
was  so  dear,  and  so  Westernly  breezy  and  progressive 
and  enterprising  and  so  appallingly  candid.  I've 
been  the  "  one  woman "  to  him,  "  the  unknown 
but  remembered  ideal  "  since  that  encounter.  Of 
course  that  was  to  be  said,  but  strangely  enough 
he  meant  it.  He  was  actually  and  unaffectedly 
making  love  to  me.  He's  not  so  large  or  tall,  but 
quick  and  springy,  and  muscled  like  a  panther. 
He's  not  beautiful,  either,  but  pleasant  to  look  at, 
one  of  those  broad,  high-cheeked  faces  one  sees  so 
much  in  the  West,  with  the  funniest  quick  yellow 
ish  grey  eyes,  and  the  most  disreputable  moustache 
I  ever  saw,  yellow  and  ragged.  If  he  must  eat  it,  I 
wish  he  would  eat  it  off  even  clear  across.  And  he's 
likely  to  talk  the  most  execrable  slang,  or  to  quote 
Browning.  But  he  was  making  real  love,  and  you 
know  I'm  not  used  to  that.  I'm  accustomed  to 
go  my  pace  before  sharply  calculating  eyes,  to 
show  if  I'm  worth  the  asking-price.  But  here  was 
real  love  being  made  off  down  in  the  earth  (we'd 
run  away  from  the  others  because  I  liked  him  at 
once).  I  don't  mind  telling  you  he  moved  me, 
partly  because  I  had  wondered  about  him  from  that 
night,  and  partly  because  of  all  I  had  come  to 
feel  about  this  new  place  and  the  new  people,  and 
because  he  seemed  such  a  fine,  active  specimen  of 


98  THE    SPENDERS 

Western  manhood.  I  won't  tell  you  all  the  wild, 
lawless  thoughts  that  scurried  and  sneaked  through 
my  mind  —  they  don't  matter  now  —  for  all  at  once 
it  came  out  that  he  was  the  only  son  of  that  wealthy 
Bines  who  died  awhile  ago  —  you  remember  the 
name  was  mentioned  that  night  at  your  house  when 
they  were  discussing  the  exodus  of  Western  million 
aires  to  New  York;  some  one  named  the  father  as 
one  who  liked  coming  to  New  York  to  dissipate 
occasionally,  but  who  was  still  rooted  in  the  soil 
where  his  millions  grew. 

There  was  the  son  before  me,  just  an  ordinary 
man  of  millions,  after  all  —  and  my  little  toy  balloon 
of  romance  that  I'd  been  floating  so  gaily  on  a 
string  of  sentiment  was  pricked  to  nothing  in  an 
instant.  I  felt  my  nostrils  expand  with  the  excite 
ment  of  the  chase,  and  thereafter  I  was  my  coldly 
professional  self.  If  that  young  man  has  not  now 
a  high  estimate  of  my  charms  of  person  and  mind, 
then  have  my  ways  forgot  their  cunning  and  I  be 
no  longer  the  daughter  of  Margaret  Milbrey,  nee 
van  Schoule. 

But,  Miitterchen,  now  comes  the  disgraceful  part. 
I'm  afraid  of  myself,  even  in  spite  of  our  affairs 
being  so  bad.  Dad  has  doubtless  told  you  some 
thing  must  be  done  very  soon,  and  I  seem  to  be 
the  only  one  to  do  it.  And  yet  I  am  shying  at 
the  gate.  This  trip  has  unsettled  me,  I  tell  you, 
letting  me,  among  other  things,  see  my  old  self. 
Before  I  always  rather  liked  the  idea  of  marriage, 
that  is,  after  I'd  been  out  a  couple  of  years  —  not 


THE    SPENDERS  99 

too  well,  but  well  enough  —  and  now  some  way  I 
rebel,  not  from  scruples,  but  from  pure  selfishness. 
I'm  beginning  to  find  that  I  want  to  enjoy  myself 
and  to  find,  further,  that  I'm  not  indisposed  to 
take  chances  —  as  they  say  out  here.  Will  you 
understand,  I  wonder?  And  do  women  who  sell 
themselves  ever  find  any  real  pleasure  in  the 
bargain?  The  most  eloquent  examples,  the  ones 
that  sell  themselves  to  many  men,  lead  wretched 
lives.  But  does  the  woman  who  sells  herself  to 
but  one  enjoy  life  any  more?  She's  surely  as  bad, 
from  any  standpoint  of  morals,  and  I  imagine 
sometimes  she  is  less  happy.  At  any  rate,  she  has 
less  freedom  and  more  obligations  under  her  con 
tract.  You  see  I  am  philosophising  pretty  coldly. 
Now  be  horrified  if  you  will. 

I  am  selfish  by  good  right,  though.  "  Haven't 
we  spent  all  our  surplus  in  keeping  you  up  for  a 
good  marriage?"  says  the  mater,  meaning  by  a 
good  marriage  that  I  shall  bring  enough  money 
into  the  family  to  "  keep  up  its  traditions."  I  am, 
in  other  words,  an  investment  from  which  they  ex 
pect  large  returns.  I  told  her  I  hoped  she  could 
trace  her  selfishness  to  its  source  as  clearly  as  I 
could  mine,  and  as  for  the  family  traditions,  Fred 
was  preserving  those  in  an  excellent  medium. 
Which  was  very  ugly  in  me,  and  I  cried  afterwards 
and  told  her  how  sorry  I  was. 

Are  you  shocked  by  my  cold  calculations?  Well, 
I  am  trying  to  let  you  understand  me,  and  I 

"...  have  no  time  to  waste 
In  patching  fig-leaves  for  the  naked  truth." 


ioo  THE    SPENDERS 

I  am  cursed  not  only  with  consistent  feminine 
longings  and  desires,  but,  in  spite  of  my  training 
and  the  examples  around  me,  with  a  disinclination  to 
be  wholly  vicious.  Awhile  ago  marriage  meant 
only  more  luxury  and  less  worry  about  money.  I 
never  gave  any  thought  to  the  husband,  certainly 
never  concerned  myself  with  any  notions  of  duty 
or  obligation  toward  him.  The  girls  I  know  are 
taught  painstakingly  how  to  get  a  husband,  but 
nothing  of  how  to  be  a  wife.  The  husband  in  my 
case  was  to  be  an  inconvenience,  but  doubtless  an 
amusing  one.  For  all  his  oppression,  if  there  were 
that,  and  even  for  the  mere  offence  of  his  existence, 
I  should  wreak  my  spite  merrily  on  his  vulgar 
dollars. 

But  you  are  saying  that  I  like  the  present  eli 
gible.  That's  the  trouble.  I  like  him  so  well  I 
haven't  the  heart  to  marry  him.  When  I  was 
twenty  I  could  have  loved  him  devotedly,  I  believe. 
Now  something  seems  to  be  gone,  some  fresh 
ness  or  fondness.  I  can  still  love  —  I  know  it  only 
too  well  night  and  day  —  but  it  must  be  a  differ 
ent  kind  of  man.  He  is  so  very  young  and  rever 
ent  and  tender,  and  in  a  way  so  unsophisticated. 
He  is  so  afraid  of  me.  for  all  his  pretence  of 
boldness. 

Is  it  because  I  must  be  taken  by  sheer  force? 
I'll  not  be  surprised  if  it  is.  Do  we  not  in  our  se 
cret  soul  of  souls  nourish  this  beatitude :  "  Blessed 
is  the  man  who  destroys  all  barriers  "  ?  Florence 
Akemit  said  as  much  one  day,  and  Florence,  poor 


THE    SPENDERS  101 

soul,  knows  something  of  the  matter.  Do  we 
not  sit  defiantly  behind  the  barriers,  insolently 
challenging — threatening  capital  punishment  for 
any  assault,  relaxing  not  one  severity,  yet  falling 
meek  and  submissive  and  glad,  to  the  man  who 
brutally  and  honestly  beats  them  down,  and  de 
stroys  them  utterly/  So  many  fail  by  merely  beat 
ing  them  down.  Of  course  if  an  untidy  litter  is 
left  we  make  a  row.  We  reconstruct  the  barrier 
and  that  particular  assailant  is  thenceforth  deprived 
of  a  combatant's  rights.  What  a  dear  you  are 
that  I  can  say  these  things  to  you !  Were  girls 
so  frank  in  your  time? 

Well,  my  knight  of  the  "  golden  cross  "  (joke; 
laughter  and  loud  applause,  and  cries  of  "  Go 
on!'')  has  a  little,  much  indeed,  of  the  impetuous 
in  him,  but,  alas !  not  enough.  He  has  a  pretty 
talent  for  it,  but  no  genius.  If  I  were  married 
to  him  to-morrow,  as  surely  as  1  am  a  woman 
I  should  be  made  to  inflict  pain  upon  him  the  next 
day,  with  an  insane  stress  to  show  him,  perhaps, 
I  was  not  the  ideal  woman  he  had  thought  me  — 
perhaps  out  of  a  jealousy  of  that  very  ideal  I  had 
inspired  —  rational  creatures,  aren't  we?  —  beg  par 
don  —  not  we,  then,  but  I.  Now  he,  being  a  real 
likable  man  of  a  man.  can  I  do  that — for  money? 
Do  I  want  the  money  badly  enough?  Would  I 
not  even  rather  be  penniless  with  the  man  who 
coerced  every  great  passion  and  littlest  impulse, 
body  and  soul  —  perhaps  with  a  very  hateful  in 
solence  of  power  over  me?  Do  you  know,  I  sus- 


102  THE    SPENDERS 

pect  sometimes  that  I've  been  trained  down  too 
fine,  as  to  my  nerves,  1  mean.  1  doubt  if  it's 
safe  to  pamper  and  trim  and  stimulate  and  refine 
a  woman  in  that  hothouse  atmosphere  —  at  least 
if  she's  a  healthy  woman.  She's  too  apt  some 
time  to  break  her  gait,  get  the  bit  of  tradition 
between  her  teeth,  and  then  let  her  impulses  run 
away  with  her. 

Oh,  Miitterchen,  I  am  so  sick  and  sore,  and  yet 
filled  with  a  strange  new  zest  for  this  old  puzzle 
of  life.  Will  I  ever  be  the  same  again?  This 
man  is  going  to  ask  me  to  marry  him  the  moment 
I  am  ready  for  him  to.  Shall  I  be  kind  enough 
to  tell  him  no,  or  shall  I  steel  myself  to  go  in 
and  hurt  him  —  make  him  writhe? 

And  yet  do  you  know  what  he  gave  me  while 
I  was  with  him?  I  wonder  if  women  feel  it 
commonly  ?  It  was  a  desire  for  motherhood  —  a 
curiously  vivid  and  very  definite  longing  —  en 
tirely  irrespective  of  him,  you  understand,  although 
he  inspired  it.  Without  loving  him  or  being  at 
all  moved  toward  him,  he  made  me  sheerly  want 
to  be  a  mother!  Or  is  it  only  that  men  we  don't 
love  make  us  feel  motherly  ? 

Am  I  wholly  irrational  and  selfish  and  bad,  or 
what  am  I?  I  know  you'll  love  me,  whatever  it 
is,  and  I  wish  now  I  could  snuggle  on  that  soft, 
cushiony  shoulder  of  yours  and  go  to  sleep. 

Can  anything  be  more  pitiful  than  "  a  fine  old 
family"  afflicted  with  dry-rot  like  ours?  I'm  al 
ways  amused  when  I  read  about  the  suffering  in 


THE    SPENDERS  103 

the  tenements.  The  real  anguish  is  up  in  the  homes 
like  ours.  We  have  to  do  without  so  very  many 
more  things,  and  mere  hunger  and  cold  are  easy 
compared  to  the  suffering  we  feel. 

Perhaps  when  I'm  back  to  that  struggle  for  ap 
pearances,  I'll  relent  and  "  barter  my  charms  "  as 
the  old  novels  used  to  say,  sanely  and  decently 
like  a  well  brought-np  New  York  girl  —  with  cer 
tain  reservations,  to  a  man  who  can  support  the 
family  in  the  style  to  which  it  wants  to  become 
accustomed.  Yet  there  may  be  a  way  out.  There 
is  a  Bines  daughter,  for  example,  and  mamma,  who 
never  does  one  half  where  she  can  as  well  do  two, 
will  marry  her  to  Fred  if  she  can.  On  the  other 
hand,  Joe  Drelmer  was  putting  in  words  for  young 
Mauburn,  who  will  be  Lord  Casselthorpe  when  his 
disreputable  old  uncle  dies. 

She  hasn't  yet  spent  what  she  got  for  introduc 
ing  the  Canovass  prince  to  that  oldest  Elarton  girl, 
so  if  she  secures  this  prize  for  Mauburn,  she'll  be 
comfortable  for  a  couple  of  more  years.  Perhaps 
I '  could  turn  my  hand  to  something  like  that.  I 
know  the  ropes  as  well  as  she  does. 

There,  it  is  a  punishment  of  a  letter,  isn't  it, 
dear?  But  I've  known  every  bad  place  in  it,  and 
I've  religiously  put  in  your  "  Come,  come,  child!  " 
every  time  it  belonged,  so  you've  not  still  to  scold 
me,  for  which  be  comforted  a  little;  and  give  me 
only  a  few  words  of  cheerful  approval  if  your 
conscience  will  let  you.  I  need  that,  after  all,  more 
than  advice.  Look  for  us  in  a  week.  With  a 
bear-hug  for  you,  AVICE. 


104  THE    SPENDERS 

P.  S.  Is  it  true  that  Ned  Ristine  and  his  wife 
have  fixed  it  up  and  are  together  again  since  his 
return?  Not  that  I'm  interested  especially,  but  I 
chanced  to  hear  it  gossiped  the  other  day  here  on 
the  car.  Indeed,  I  hope  you  know  how  thoroughly 
I  detest  that  man! 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  Price  of  Averting  a  Scandal 

AS  the  train  resumed  speed  after  stopping  at 
a  station.  Grant,  the  porter,  came  back  to 
the  observation  room  of  the  Bines  car  with 
a  telegram  for  Uncle  Peter.  The  old  man  read  it 
and  for  a  time  mused  himself  into  seeming  oblivion. 
Across  the  car,  near  by,  Percival  lounged  in  a 
wicker  arm-chair  and  stared  cheerfully  out  into 
the  gathering  night.  He,  too,  was  musing,  his 
thoughts  keeping  pleasantly  in  time  with  the  rhyth 
mic  click  of  the  wheels  over  the  rail-joints.  After 
a  day  in  the  open  air  he  was  growing  sleepy. 

Uncle  Peter  aroused  him  by  making  his  way 
back  to  the  desk,  the  roll-top  of  which  he  lifted  with 
a  sudden  rattle.  He  called  to  Percival.  Sitting 
down  at  the  desk  he  read  the  telegram  again  and 
handed  it  to  the  young  man,  who  read : 

"  Party  will  try  to  make  good;  no  bluff.  Won't 
compromise  inside  limit  set.  Have  seen  paper  and 
wish  another  interview  before  following  original 
instructions.  Party  will  wait  forty-eight  hours 

105 


io6  THE    SPENDERS 

before   acting.      Where   can   you   be   seen?      Wire 
office  to-night. 

"  TAFE  &  COPLEN." 

The  young  man  looked  up  with  mild  interest. 
Uncle  Peter  was  writing  on  a  telegraph  blank. 

"  TAFE  &  COPLEN,  Butte,  Montana. 

"  Due  Butte  7.30  A.M.  to-morrow.  Join  me  on 
car  nought  sixteen,  go  to  Montana  City. 

"  PETER  BINES. 

"D.H.F.    742." 

To  the  porter  who  answered  his  ring  he  handed 
the  message  to  be  put  off  at  the  first  stop. 

"But  what's  it  all  about?"  asked  Percival, 
seeing  by  Uncle  Peter's  manner  that  he  was 
expected  to  show  concern. 

Uncle  Peter  closed  the  desk,  lighted  one  of  his 
best  cigars,  and  dropped  into  a  capacious  chair. 
The  young  man  seated  himself  opposite. 

"  Well,  son,  it's  a  matter  I  cal'lated  first  off  to 
handle  myself,  but  it  looks  now  as  if  you  better 
be  in  on  it.  I  don't  know  just  how  much  you 
knew  about  your  pa's  ways,  but,  anyhow,  you 
wouldn't  play  him  to  grade  much  higher  above 
standard  than  the  run  of  'em  out  here  that  has 
had  things  comin'  too  easy  for  'em.  He  was  all 
right,  Dan'l  J.  was.  God  knows  I  ain't  discountin' 
the  comfort  I've  always  took  in  him.  He'd  stand 
acid  all  right,  at  any  stage  of  the  game.  Don't 
forget  that  about  your  pa." 


THE    SPENDERS  107 

The  young  man  reflected. 

"  The  worst  story  I  ever  heard  of  pa  was  about 
the  time  he  wanted  to  draw  twenty  thousand 
dollars  from  the  bank  in  Tacoma.  They  tele 
graphed  the  Butte  National  to  wire  his  description, 
and  the  answer  was  '  tall  and  drunk.'  ' 

"  Well,  son,  his  periodicals  wa'n't  all.  Seems 
as  if  this  crowd  has  a  way  fur  women,  and  they 
generally  get  the  gaff  because  they're  so  blamed 
easy.  You  don't  hear  of  them  Eastern  big  men 
gettin'  it  so  often,  but  I've  seen  enough  of  'em  to 
know  it  ain't  because  they're  any  straighter.  They're 
jest  a  little  keener  on  business  propositions.  They 
draw  a  fine  sight  when  it  comes  to  splittin'  pennies, 
while  men  out  here  like  your  pa  is  lavish  and  care 
less.  You  know  about  lots  of  the  others. 

4  There's  Sooley  Pentz,  good-hearted  a  man  as 
ever  sacked  ore,  and  plenty  long-headed  enough  for 
the  place  he's  bought  in  the  Senate,  but  Sooley  is 
restless  until  he's  bought  up  one  end  of  every  town 
he  goes  into,  from  Eden  plumb  over  to  Washington, 
D.  C.,  —  and  'tain't  ever  the  Sunday-school  end 
Sooley  buys  either.  If  he  was  makin'  two  million 
a  month  instead  of  one  Sooley'd  grieve  himself  to 
death  because  they  don't  make  that  five-dollar  kind 
of  wine  fast  enough. 

'  Then  there  was  Seth  Larby.  We're  jest  gettin' 
to  the  details  of  Seth's  expense  account  after  he 
found  the  Lucky  Cuss.  I  see  the  courts  have  decided 
against  the  widow  and  children,  and  so  they'll  have 
to  worry  off  about  five  or  six  millions  for  the  poor 


io8  THE    SPENDERS 

lady  he  duped  so  outrageously  —  with  a  checker 
on  the  chips. 

"  As  fur  old  Nate  Kranil,  a  lawyer  from  Cheyenne 
was  tellin'  me  his  numerous  widows  by  courtesy 
was  goin'  to  form  an  association  and  share  his 
leavin's  pro  raty.  Said  they'd  all  got  kind  of 
acquainted  and  made  up  their  minds  they  was  such 
a  reg'lar  band  of  wolves  that  none  of  'em  was 
able  to  do  any  of  the  others  in  the  long  run,  so 
they'd  divide  even. 

"  Then  there  was  Dave  Kisber,  and  —  " 

"  Never  mind  any  more  —  '  Percival  broke  in. 
"  Do  you  mean  that  my  father  was  mixed  up  like 
those  old  Indians?" 

"  Looks  now  as  if  he  was.  That  telegram  from 
Coplen  is  concernin'  of  a  lady  —  a  party  that  was 
with  him  when  he  died.  The  press  report  sent  out 
that  the  young  and  beautiful  Mrs.  Bines  was  with 
her  husband,  and  was  prostrated  with  grief.  Your 
ma  and  Pishy  was  up  to  Steamin'  Springs  at  the 
time,  and  I  kep'  it  from  them  all  right." 

"  But  how  was  he  entangled  ?  —  to  what  extent  ?  " 

"  That's  what  we'll  get  more  light  on  in  the 
morning.  She  made  a  play  right  after  the  will 
was  filed  fur  probate,  and  I  told  Coplen  to  see  jest 
what  grounds  she  had,  and  I'd  settle  myself  if 
she  really  had  any  and  wa'n't  unreasonable." 

"  It's  just  a  question  of  blackmail,  isn't  it?  What 
did  you  offer?  " 

"  Well,  she  has  a  slew  of  letters  —  gettin'  them 
is  a  matter  of  sentiment  and  keepin'  the  thing 


THE    SPENDERS  109 

quiet.  Then  she  claims  to  have  a  will  made  last 
December  and  duly  witnessed,  givin'  her  the  One 
Girl  outright,  and  a  million  cash.  So  you  can  see 
she  ain't  anything  ordinary.  I  told  Coplen  to  offer 
her  a  million  cash  for  everything  rather'n  have  any 
fuss.  I  was  goin'  to  fix  it  up  myself  and  keep 
quiet  about  it." 

'*  And  this  telegram  looks  as  if  she  wanted  to 
fight." 

"  Well,  mebbe  that  and  mebbe  it  means  that  she 
knows  we  don't  want  to  fight  considerable  more  than 
a  million  dollars'  worth." 

"  How  much  do  you  think  she'll  hold  out  for  ?  " 

"  Can't  tell ;  you  don't  know  how  big  pills  she's 
been  smokin'." 

"  But,  damn  it  all,  that's  robbery !  " 

"  Yes  —  but  it's  her  deal.  You  remember  when 
Billy  Brue  was  playin'  seven-up  with  a  stranger  in 
the  Two-Hump  saloon  over  to  Eden,  and  Chiddie 
Fogle  the  bartender  called  him  up  front  and  whis 
pered  that  he'd  jest  seen  the  feller  turn  a  jack  from 
the  bottom.  '  Well,'  says  Billie,  looking  kind  of 
reprovin'  at  Chiddie,  '  it  was  his  deal,  wa'n't  it  ?  ' 
Now  it's  sure  this  blond  party's  deal,  and  we  better 
reckon  ahead  a  mite  before  we  start  any  rough- 
house  with  her.  You're  due  to  find  out  if  you 
hadn't  better  let  her  turn  her  jack  and  trust  to 
gettin'  even  on  your  deal.  You  got  a  claim  staked 
out  in  New  York,  and  a  scandal  like  this  might 
handicap  you  in  workin'  it.  And  'tain't  as  if 
hushin'  her  up  was  something  we  couldn't  well 


no  THE    SPENDERS 

afford.  And  think  of  ho*\y  it  would  torment  your 
ma  to  know  of  them  doin's,  and  how  'twould  shame 
Pish  in  company.  Of  course,  rob'ry  is  rob'ry,  but 
mebbe  it's  our  play  to  be  sporty  like  Billy  Brue 
was." 

"  Pretty  bad,  isn't  it?  I  never  suspected  pa  was 
in  anything  of  this  sort." 

"  Well,  I  knew  Dan'l  J.  purty  well,  and  I  spleened 
against  some  of  his  ways,  but  that's  done  fur.  Now 
the  folks  out  in  this  part  of  the  country  have  come 
to  expect  it  from  a  man  like  him.  They  don't  mind 
so  much.  But  them  New  York  folks  —  well,  I 
thought  mebbe  you'd  like  to  take  a  clean  bill  of 
health  when  you  settle  in  that  centre  of  culture  and 
enlightenment,  —  and  remember  your  ma  and  Pish." 

"  Of  course  the  exposure  would  mean  a  lot  of 
cheap  notoriety  — 

"  Well,  and  not  so  all-fired  cheap  at  that,  even 
if  we  beat.  I've  heard  that  lawyers  are  threatenin' 
to  stop  this  thing  of  workin'  entirely  fur  their 
health.  There's  that  to  weigh  up." 

"  But  I  hate  to  be  done." 

"  Well,  wouldn't  you  be  worse  done  if  you  let 
a  matter  of  money,  when  you're  reekin'  with  it, 
keep  you  from  protectin'  your  pa's  name?  Do  you 
want  folks  to  snicker  when  they  read  that  '  lovin' 
husband  and  father'  business  on  his  gravestone? 
My!  I  guess  that  young  woman  and  her  folks  we 
met  the  other  day'd  be  tickled  to  death  to  think  they 
knew  you  after  they'd  read  one  of  them  Sunday 
newspaper  stories  with  pictures  of  us  all,  and  an 


THE    SPENDERS  in 

extry  fine  one  of  the  millionaire's  dupe,  basely 
enticed  from  her  poor  but  honest  millinery  business 
in  Spokane." 

Percival  shuddered. 

"  Well,  let's  see  what  Coplen  has  to  say  in  the 
morning.  If  it  can  be  settled  within  reason  I 
suppose  we  better  give  up." 

4  That's  my  view  now,  and  the  estate  bein'  left 
as  simply  as  it  was,  we  can  make  in  the  payments 
unbeknownst  to  the  folks." 

They  said  good-night,  and  Percival  went  off  to 
dream  that  a  cab-horse  of  mammoth  size  was  threat 
ening  to  eat  Miss  Milbrey  unless  he  drove  it  to 
Spokane  Falls  and  bought  two  million  millinery 
shops. 

When  he  was  jolted  to  consciousness  they  were 
in  the  switching  yard  at  Butte,  and  the  car  was 
being  coupled  to  the  rear  of  the  train  made  up  for 
Montana  City.  He  took  advantage  of  the  stop  to 
shave.  By  the  time  he  was  dressed  they  were  under 
way  again,  steaming  out  past  the  big  smelters  that 
palled  the  sky  with  heavy  black  smoke. 

At  the  breakfast-table  he  found  Uncle  Peter  and 
Coplen. 

"  I'm  inclined,"  said  the  lawyer,  as  Percival 
peeled  a  peach,  "  to  agree  with  your  grandfather. 
This  woman  —  if  I  may  use  the  term  —  is  one  of 
the  nerviest  leg-pullers  you're  ever  likely  to  strike." 

"  Lord !  I  should  hope  so,"  said  Percival,  with 
hearty  emphasis. 

"  She   studied    your    father   and   she   knew   him 


H2  THE    SPENDERS 

better  than  any  of  us,  I  judge.  She  certainly  knew 
he  was  liable  to  go  at  any  time,  in  exactly  the  way 
he  did  go.  Why,  she  even  had  a  doctor  down  from 
'Frisco  to  Monterey  when  they  were  there  about 
a  year  ago  —  introduced  him  as  an  old  friend  and 
had  him  stay  around  three  days  —  just  to  give  her 
a  private  professional  opinion  on  his  chances.  As 
to  this  will,  the  signature  is  undoubtedly  genuine, 
but  my  judgment  is  she  procured  it  in  some  way 
on  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  and  had  the  will  written 
above  on  sheets  like  it.  As  it  conforms  to  the  real 
will  word  for  word,  excepting  the  bequests  to  her, 
she  must  have  had  access  to  that  before  having  this 
one  written.  Of  course  that  helps  to  make  it  look 
as  if  the  testator  had  changed  his  mind  only  as 
to  the  one  legatee  —  makes  it  look  plausible  and 
genuine.  The  witnesses  were  of  course  parties  to 
the  fraud,  but  I  seriously  question  our  ability  to 
prove  there  was  fraud.  We  think  they  procured 
a  copy  of  the  will  we  kept  in  our  safe  at  Butte 
through  the  clerk  that  Tafe  fired  awhile  back  because 
of  his  drinking  habits  and  because  he  was  generally 
suspicious  of  him.  Of  course  that's  only  surmise." 

"  But  can't  we  fight  it  ?  "  demanded  Percival, 
hungrily  attacking  the  crisp,  brown  little  trout. 

"  Well,  if  we  allowed  it  to  come  to  a  contest, 
we  might  expose  the  whole  thing,  and  then  again 
we  might  not.  I  tell  you  she's  clever.  She's 
shown  it  at  every  step.  Now  then,  if  you  do  fight," 
and  the  lawyer  bristled,  as  if  his  fighting  spirit 
were  not  too  far  under  the  control  of  his  experience- 


THE    SPENDERS  113 

horn  caution,  ''  why,  you  have  litigation  that's 
bound  to  last  for  years,  and  it  would  be  pretty 
expensive.  1  admit  the  case  is  tempting  to  a  lawyer, 
but  in  the  end  you  don't  know  what  you'll  get, 
especially  with  this  woman.  Why,  do  you  know 
she's  already,  we've  found,  made  up  to  two  different 
judges  that  might  be  interested  in  any  litigation 
she'd  have,  and  she's  cultivating  others.  The  role 
of  Joseph,"  he  continued,  "  has  never,  to  the  best 
of  my  belief,  been  gracefully  played  in  the  world's 
history,  and  you  may  have  noticed  that  the  members 
of  the  Montana  judiciary  seem  to  be  particularly 
awkward  in  their  essays  at  it.  In  the  end,  then, 
you'll  be  out  a  lot  of  money  even  if  you  win.  On 
the  other  hand,  you  have  a  chance  to  settle  it  for 
good  and  all,  getting  back  everything  —  excepting 
the  will,  which,  of  course,  we  couldn't  touch  or 
even  concede  the  existence  of,  but  which  would, 
if  such  an  instrument  were  extant,  be  destroyed  in 
the  presence  of  a  witness  whose  integrity  I  could 
rely  upon  —  well  —  as  upon  my  own.  The  letters 
which  she  has,  and  which  I  have  seen,  are  also 
such  as  would  tend  to  substantiate  her  claims  and 
make  the  large  bequests  to  her  seem  plausible  —  and 
they're  also  such  letters  as  —  I  should  infer  —  the 
family  would  rather  wish  not  to  be  made  public, 
as  they  would  be  if  it  came  to  trial." 

'  Jest  what  I  told  him,"  remarked  Uncle  Peter. 

"  What  she'll  hold  out  for  I  don't  know,  but  I'd 

suggest  this,  that  I  meet  her  attorney  and  put  the 

case  exactly  as  I've  found  it  out  as  to  the  will,  letting 


H4  THE    SPENDERS 

them  suspect,  perhaps,  that  we  havre  admissions  of 
some  sort  from  Hornby,  the  clerk,  that  might 
damage  them.  Then  1  can  put  it  that,  while  we 
have  no  doubt  of  our  ability  to  dispose  of  the  will, 
we  do  wish  to  avoid  the  scandal  that  would  ensue 
upon  a  publication  of  the  letters  they  hold  and  the 
exposure  of  her  relations  with  the  testator,  and 
that  upon  this  purely  sentimental  ground  we  are 
willing  to  be  bled  to  a  reasonable  extent.  The 
One  Girl  is  a  valuable  mine,  but  my  opinion  is 
she'll  be  glad  to  get  two  million  if  we  seem  reluc 
tant  to  pay  that  much." 

With  that  gusto  of  breakfast-appetite  which 
arouses  the  envy  of  persons  whose  alimentation  is 
not  what  it  used  to  be,  Percival  had  devoured  ruddy 
peaches  and  purple  grapes,  trout  that  had  breasted 
their  swift  native  currents  that  very  morning,  crisp 
little  curls  of  bacon,  muffins  that  were  mere  flecks 
of  golden  foam,  honey  with  the  sweetness  of  a 
thousand  fragrant  blossoms,  and  coffee  that  was 
oily  with  richness.  For  a  time  he  had  seemed  to 
make  no  headway  against  his  hill-born  appetite. 
The  lawyer,  who  had  broken  his  fast  with  a  strip 
of  dry  toast  and  a  cup  of  weak  tea,  had  watched 
him  with  unfeigned  and  reminiscent  interest.  Grant, 
who  stood  watchful  to  replenish  his  plate,  and  whose 
pleasure  it  was  to  see  him  eat,  regarded  him  with 
eyes  fairly  dewy  from  sympathy.  To  A.  L.  Jack 
son,  the  cook,  on  a  trip  for  hot  muffins,  he  observed, 
"  He  eats  jes'  like  th'  ole  man.  I  suttin'y  do  love 
t'  see  that  boy  behave  when  he  got  his  fresh  moral 


THE    SPENDERS  115 

appetite  on  him.  He  suttin'y  do  ca'y  hisse'f  mighty 
handsome." 

With  Coplen's  final  recommendation  to  settle 
Percival  concluded  his  meal,  and  after  surveying 
with  fondly  pleasant  regret  the  devastation  he  had 
wrought,  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  lighted  a 
cigar.  He  was  no  longer  in  a  mood  to  counsel  fight, 
even  though  he  disliked  to  submit. 

"  You  know,"  he  reminded  Uncle  Peter,  "  what 
that  editorial  in  the  Rock  Rip  Champion  said  about 
me  when  we  were  over  there :  '  We  opine  that  the 
Junior  Bines  will  become  a  warm  piece  of  human 
force  if  he  isn't  ground-sluiced  too  early  in  the 
game.'  Well  —  and  here  I'm  ground-sluiced  the 
first  rattle  out  of  the  box." 

But  the  lawyer  went  over  the  case  again  point 
by  point,  and  Percival  finally  authorised  him  to 
make  the  best  settlement  possible.  He  cared  as 
little  for  the  money  as  Uncle  Peter  did,  large  sum 
though  it  was.  And  then  his  mother  and  sister 
would  be  spared  a  great  humiliation,  and  his  own 
standing  where  most  he  prized  it  would  not  be 
jeopardised. 

"  Settle  the  best  you  can,"  was  his  final  direction 
to  Coplen.  The  lawyer  left  them  at  the  next  station 
to  wait  for  a  train  back  to  Butte. 


CHAPTER   XL 

How   Uncle  Peter  Bines  Once  Cut  Loose 

AS  the  train  moved  on  after  leaving  Coplen, 
Percival  fell  to  thinking  of  the  type  of  man 
his  father  had  been. 

"  Uncle  Peter,"  he  said,  suddenly,  "  they  don't 
all  cut  loose,  do  they?  Now  you  never  did?  " 

"  Yes,  I  did,  son.  I  yanked  away  from  all  the 
hitchin'  straps  of  decency  when  I  first  struck  it, 
jest  like  all  the  rest  of  'em.  Oh,  I  was  an  Indian 
in  my  time  —  a  reg'ler  measly  hop-pickin'  Siwash 
at  that. 

"  You  don't  know,  of  course,  what  livin'  out  in 
the  open  on  bacon  and  beans  does  fur  a  healthy 
man's  cravin's.  He  gets  so  he  has  visions  day  and 
night  of  high-livin'  -  -  nice  broiled  steaks  with 
plenty  of  fat  on  'em,  and  'specially  cake  and  pre 
serves  and  pies  like  mother  used  to  make  —  fat, 
juicy  mince  pies  that  would  assay  at  least  eight 
hundred  dollars  a  ton  in  raisins  alone,  say  nothing 
of  the  baser  metals.  He  sees  the  crimp  around  the 
edges  made  with  a  fork,  and  the  picture  of  a  leaf 
pricked  in  the  middle  to  vent  the  steam,  and  he  gets 
to  smellin'  'em  when  they're  pulled  smokin'  hot 

116 


THE    SPENDERS  117 

out  of  the  oven.    And  frosted  cake,  the  layer  kind  - 
about  five  layers,  with  stratas  of  jelly  and  custard 
and  figs  and  raisins  and  whatever  it  might  be.     T 
saw  'em  fur  years,  with  a  big  cuttin'  out  to  show 
the  cross-section. 

"  But  a  man  that  has  to  work  by  the  day  fur 
enough  to  take  him  through  the  prospectin'  season 
can't  blow  any  of  his  dust  on  frivolous  things  like 
pie.  The  hard-workin'  plain  food  is  the  kind  he 
has  to  tote,  and  I  never  heard  of  pie  bein'  in  any 
body's  grub-stake  either. 

"  Well,  fur  two  or  three  years  at  a  time  the 
nearest  I'd  ever  get  to  them  dainties  would  be  a 
piece  of  sour-dough  bread  baked  on  a  stove-lid. 
But  whenever  I  was  in  the  big  camps  I'd  always  go 
look  into  the  bake-shop  windows  and  just  gloat  — 
'  rubber  '  they  call  it  now'days.  My !  but  they 
would  be  beautiful.  Son,  if  I  could  'a'  been  guar 
anteed  that  kind  of  a  heaven,  some  of  them  times, 
I'd  'a'  become  the  hottest  kind  of  a  Christian  zealot, 
I'll  tell  you  that.  That  spell  of  gloatin'  was  what 
I  always  looked  forward  to  when  I  was  lyin'  out 
nights. 

"  Well,  the  time  before  I  made  the  strike  I 
outfitted  in  Grand  Bar.  The  bake- joint  there  wras 
jest  a  mortal  aggravation.  Sakes!  but  it  did  tor 
ment  a  body  so!  It  was  kep'  by  a  Chink,  and  the 
star  play  in  the  window  was  a  kind  of  two -story 
cake  with  f rostin'  all  over  the  place  —  on  top  and 
down  the  sides,  and  on  the  bottom  fur  all  I  knew, 
it  looked  that  rich.  And  it  had  cocoanut  mixed  in 


n8  THE    SPENDERS 

with  it.  Say,  now,  that  concrete  looked  fit  to  pave 
the  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem  with  —  and  a 
hunk  was  cut  out,  jest  like  I'd  always  dream  of 
so  much  —  showin'  a  cross-section  of  rich  yellow 
cake  and  a  fruity-lookin'  fillin'  that  jest  made  a 
man  want  to  give  up. 

"  I  was  there  three  days,  and  every  day  I'd  stop 
in  front  of  that  window  and  jest  naturally  hone 
fur  a  slice  of  that  vision.  The  Chink  was  standin' 
in  the  door  the  first  day. 

"  '  Six  doll's/  he  says,  kind  of  enticin'  me. 

"  He  might  as  well  'a'  said  six  thousand.  I 
shook  my  head. 

"  Next  day  I  was  there  again,  yearnin'.  The 
Chink  see  me  and  come  out. 

"  '  One  doll'  HT  piece,'  he  says. 

"  I  says,  '  No,  you  slant-eyed  heathen,'  or  some 
such  name  as  that.  But  when  you're  looking  fur 
tests  of  character,  son,  don't  let  that  one  hide  away 
from  you.  I'd  play  that  fur  the  heftiest  moral 
courage  I've  ever  showed,  anyway. 

"  The  third  day  it  was  gone  and  a  lemon  pie 
was  there,  all  with  nice  kind  of  brownish  snow  on 
top.  I  was  on  my  way  out  then,  pushin'  the  mule. 
I  took  one  lingerin'  last  look  and  felt  proud  of 
myself  when  I  saw  the  hump  in  the  pack  made  by 
my  bag  of  beans. 

"  '  That-like  flummery  food's  no  kind  of  diet  to 
be  trackin'  up  pay-rock  on,'  I  says  to  kind  of  cheer 
myself. 

"  Four  weeks  later  I  struck  it.     And  six  weeks 


THE    SPENDERS  119 

after  that  I  had  things  in  shape  so't  I  was  able 
to  leave.  I  was  nearer  to  other  places  'twas  bigger, 
but  I  made  fur  Grand  Bar,  lettin'  on't  I  wanted  to 
see  about  a  claim  there.  I'd  'a'  felt  foolish  to 
have  anyone  know  jest  why  I  was  makin'  the  trip. 

"  On  the  way  I  got  to  havin'  night-mares,  'fear 
that  Chink  would  be  gone.  I  knew  if  he  was 
I'd  go  down  to  my  grave  with  something  comin' 
to  me  because  I'd  never  found  jest  that  identical 
cake  I'd  been  famishin'  fur. 

"  When  I  got  up  front  of  the  window,  you  can 
believe  it  or  not,  but  that  Chink  was  jest  settin' 
down  another  like  it.  Now  you  know  how  that 
Monte  Cristo  carried  on  after  he'd  proved  up. 
Well,  I  got  into  his  class,  all  right.  I  walked  in 
past  a  counter  where  the  Chink  had  crullers  and 
gingerbread  and  a  lot  of  low-grade  stuff  like  that, 
and  I  set  down  to  a  little  table  with  this  here 
marble  oil-cloth  on  it. 

'  Bring  her   back,'    I   says,   kind   of  tremblin', 
and  pointin'  to  the  window. 

'  The  Chink  pattered  up  and  come  back  with 
a  little  slab  of  it  on  a  tin  plate.  I  jest  let  it  set 
there. 

"  '  Bring  it  all,'  I  says ;  '  I  want  the  hull  ball 
of  wax.' 

'  Six  doll's,'  he  says,  kind  of  cautious. 

"  I  pulled  out  my  buckskin  pouch.  '  Bring  her 
back  and  take  it  out  of  that,'  I  says  —  '  when  I  get 
through,'  I  says. 

"  He  grinned  and  hurried  back  with  it. 


120  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Well,  son,  nothing  had  ever  tasted  so  good 
to  me,  and  I  ain't  say'n'  that  wa'n't  the  biggest 
worth  of  all  my  money 't  I  ever  got.  I'd  been 
trainin'  fur  that  cake  fur  twenty  odd  year,  and 
proddin'  my  imagination  up  fur  the  last  ten  weeks. 

"  I  et  that  all,  and  I  et  another  one  with  jelly, 
and  a  bunch  of  little  round  ones  with  frostin'  and 
raisins,  and  a  bottle  of  brandied  peaches,  and 
about  a  dozen  cream  puffs,  and  half  a  lemon  pie 
with  frostin'  on  top,  and  four  or  five  Charlotte 
rushes.  The  Chink  had  learned  to  make  'em  all 
in  'Frisco. 

"  That  meal  set  me  back  $34.75.  When  I  went 
out  I  noticed  the  plain  sponge  cakes  and  fruit 
cakes  and  dried-apple  pies  —  things  that  had  been 
out  of  my  reach  fur  twenty  years,  and  -  My !  but 
they  did  look  common  and  unappetisin'.  I  kind 
of  shivered  at  the  sight  of  'em. 

"  I  ordered  another  one  of  the  big  cakes  and 
two  more  lemon  pies  fur  the  next  day. 

"  Fur  four  days  I  led  a  life  of  what  they  call 
'  unbridled  licentiousness '  while  that  Chink  pan 
dered  to  me.  I  never  was  any  hand  fur  drink,  but 
I  cut  loose  in  that  fancy-food  joint,  now  I  tell  you. 

"  The  fifth  day  I  begun  to  taper  off.  I  begun 
to  have  a  suspicion  the  stuff  was  made  of  saw 
dust  writh  plasty  of  Paris  fur  frostin'.  The  sixth 
day  I  was  sure  it  was  sawdust,  and  my  shameful 
debauch  comes  to  an  end  right  there.  I  remem 
bered  the  story  about  the  feller  that  cal'lated  his 
chickens  wouldn't  tell  anv  different,  so  he  fed  'em 


SPENDERS  121 


sawdust  instead  of  corn-meal,  and  by-and-bye  a 
settin'  of  eggs  hatched  out  —  twelve  of  the  chickens 
had  wooden  legs  and  the  thirteenth  was  a  wood 
pecker.  Say,  I  felt  so  much  like  two  cords  of 
four-foot  stove  wood  that  it  made  me  plumb 
nervous  to  ketch  sight  of  a  sawr-buck. 

"  It  took  jest  three  weeks  fur  me  to  get  right 
inside  again.  My,  but  meat  victuals  and  all  like 
that  did  taste  mighty  scrumptious  when  I  could 
handle  'em  again. 

"  After  that  when  I'd  been  out  in  the  hills  fur 
a  season  I'd  get  that  hankerin'  back,  and  when 
I  come  in  I'd  have  a  little  frosted-cake  orgy  now 
and  then.  But  I  kep'  myself  purty  well  in  hand.  I 
never  overdone  it  like  that  again,  fur  you  see  I'd 
learned  something.  First  off,  there  was  the  appe 
tite.  I  soon  see  the  gist  of  my  fun  had  been  the 
want  in  the  stuff,  the  appetite  fur  it,  and  if  you 
nursed  an  appetite  along  and  deluded  it  with  prom 
ises  it  would  stay  by  you  like  one  of  them  meachin' 
yellow  dogs.  But  as  soon  as  you  tried  to  do  the 
good-fairy  act  by  it,  and  give  it  all  it  hankered 
fur,  you  killed  it  off,  and  then  you  wouldn't  be 
entertained  by  it  no  more,  and  kep'  stirred  up 
and  busy. 

"  And  so  I  layed  out  to  nurse  my  appetite,  and 
aggravate  it  by  never  givin'  it  quite  all  it  wanted. 
When  I  was  in  the  hills  after  a  day's  tramp  I'd 
let  it  have  its  fling  on  such  delicacies  as  I  could 
turn  out  of  the  fryin'-pan  myself,  but  when  I  got 
in  again  I'd  begin  to  act  bossy  with  it.  It's 


122  THE    SPENDERS 

wantin'  reasonably  that  keeps  folks  alive,  I  reckon. 
The  mis-a-blest  folks  I've  ever  saw  was  them  that 
had  killed  all  their  wants  by  overfeedin'  'em. 

"  Then  again,  son,  in  this  world  of  human  fail- 
in's  there  ain't  anything  ever  can  be  as  pure  and 
blameless  and  satisfyin'  as  the  stuff  in  a  bake-shop 
window  looks  like  it  is.  Don't  ever  furget  that. 
It's  jest  too  good  to  be  true.  And  in  the  next 
place  —  pastry's  good  in  its  way,  but  the  best 
you  can  ever  get  is  what's  made  fur  you  at  home 
-  I'm  talkin'  about  a  lot  of  things  now  that  you 
don't  probably  know  any  too  much  about.  Some 
times  the  boys  out  in  the  hills  spends  their  time 
dreamin'  fur  other  things  besides  pies  and  cakes, 
but  that  system  of  mine  holds  good  all  through 
the  deal  —  you  can  play  it  from  soda  to  hock  and 
not  lose  out.  And  that's  why  I'm  outlastin'  a  lot 
of  the  boys  and  still  gettin'  my  fun  out  of  the 
game. 

"  It's  a  good  system  fur  you.  son,  while  you're 
learnin'  to  use  your  head.  Your  pa  played  it  at 
first,  then  he  cut  loose.  And  you  need  it  worse'n 
ever  he  did,  if  I  got  you  sized  up  right.  He 
touched  me  on  one  side,  and  touched  you  on  the 
other.  But  you  can  last  longer  if  you  jest  keep 
the  system  in  mind  a  little.  Remember  what  I 
say  about  the  window  stuff." 

Percival  had  listened  to  the  old  man's  story 
with  proper  amusement,  and  to  the  didactics  with 
that  feeling  inevitable  to  youth  which  says  se 
cretly,  as  it  affects  to  listen  to  one  whom  it  does 


THE    SPENDERS  123 

not  wish  to  wound,  "  Yes,  yes,  I  know,  but  you 
were  living  in  another  day,  long  ago,  and  you  are 
not  me!  " 

He  went  over  to  the  desk  and  began  to  scrib 
ble  a  name  on  the  pad  of  paper. 

"  If  a  man  really  loves  one  woman  he'll  behave 
all  right,"  he  observed  to  Uncle  Peter. 

"  Oh,  1  ain't  preachin'  like  some  do.  Havin'  a 
good  time  is  all  right ;  it's  the  only  thing,  I  reckon, 
sometimes,  that  justifies  the  misery  of  livin'. 
But  cuttin'  loose  is  bad  jedgment.  A  man  wakes 
up  to  find  that  his  natural  promptin's  has  cold- 
decked  him.  If  I  smoked  the  best  see-gars  now 
all  the  time,  purty  soon  I'd  get  so't  I  wouldn't 
appreciate  'em.  That's  why  I  always  keep  some 
of  these  out-door  free-burners  on  hand.  One  of 
them  now  and  then  makes  the  others  taste  better." 

The  young  man  had  become  deaf  to  the  musical 
old  voice. 

He  was   writing: 

"  MY  DEAR  Miss  MILBREY  :  —  I  send  you  the  first 
and  only  poem  I  ever  wrote.  I  may  of  course  be 
a  prejudiced  critic,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  possess 
in  abundance  those  graces  of  metre,  rhyme,  high 
thought  in  poetic  form,  and  perfection  of  finish 
which  the  critics  unite  in  demanding.  To  be 
honest  with  you  —  and  why  should  I  conceal  that 
conceit  which  every  artist  is  said  secretly  to  feel 
in  his  own  production?--!  have  encountered  no 
other  poem  in  our  noble  tongue  which  has  so  moved 
and  captivated  me. 


124  THE    SPENDERS 

"  It  is  but  fair  to  warn  you  that  this  is  only  the 
first  of  a  volume  of  similar  poems  which  1  con 
template  writing.  And  as  the  theme  appears  now 
to  he  inexhaustible,  I  am  not  sure  that  1  can  see 
any  limit  to  the  number  of  volumes  I  shall  be 
compelled  to  issue.  Pray  accept  this  author's 
copy  with  his  best  and  hopefullest  wishes.  One 
other  copy  has  been  sent  to  the  book  reviewer 
of  the  Arcady  Lyre,  in  the  hope  that  he,  at  least, 
will  have  the  wit  to  perceive  in  it  that  ultimate 
and  ideal  perfection  for  which  the  humbler  bards 
have  hitherto  striven  in  vain. 

"  Sincerely  and  seriously  yours, 

"  P.  PERCIVAL  BINES." 

Thus  ran  the  exalted  poem  on  a  sheet  of  note- 
paper  : 

"  AVICE    MILBREY. 

Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey, 

Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey, 

Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey, 

Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey, 

Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey,  Avice  Milbrey. 

And  ninety-eight  thousand  other  verses  quite  like  it." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

Plans  for  the  Journey  East 

UNTIL  late  in  the  afternoon  they  rode  through 
a  land  that  was  bleak  and  barren  of  all 
grace  or  cheer.  The  dull  browns  and  greys 
of  the  landscape  were  unrelieved  by  any  green  or 
freshness  save  close  by  the  banks  of  an  occasional 
stream.  The  vivid  blue  of  a  cloudless  sky  served 
only  to  light  up  its  desolation  to  greater  disadvan 
tage.  It  was  a  grim  unsmiling  land,  hard  to  like. 

'  This  may  be  God's  own  country,"  said  Perci- 
val  once,  looking  out  over  a  stretch  of  grey  sage 
brush  to  a  mass  of  red  sandstone  jutting  up,  high, 
sharp,  and  ragged,  in  the  distance  —  "  but  it  looks 
to  me  as  if  He  got  tired  of  it  Himself  and  gave  up 
before  it  was  half  finished." 

"  A  man  has  to  work  here  a  few  years  to  love  it," 
said  Uncle  Peter,  shortly. 

As  they  left  the  car  at  Montana  City  in  the  early 
dusk,  that  thriving  metropolis  had  never  seemed 
so  unattractive  to  Percival ;  so  rough,  new,  garish, 
and  wanting  so  many  of  the  softening  charms  of 
the  East.  Through  the  wide,  unpaved  streets,  lined 
with  their  low  wooden  buildings,  they  drove  to 
the  Bines  mansion,  a  landmark  in  the  oldest  and 

125 


126  THE    SPENDERS 

most  fashionable  part  of  the  town.  For  such  dis 
tinctions  are  made  in  Western  towns  as  soon  as 
the  first  two  shanties  are  built.  The  Bines  house 
had  been  a  monument  to  new  wealth  from  the  earli 
est  days  of  the  town,  which  was  a  fairly  decent 
antiquity  for  the  region.  But  the  house  and  the 
town  grated  harshly  now  upon  the  young  man.  He 
burned  with  a  fever  of  haste  to  be  off  toward  the 
East  —  over  the  far  rim  of  hills,  and  the  farther 
higher  mountain  range,  to  a  land  that  had  warmed 
genially  under  three  hundred  years  of  civilised 
occupancy  —  where  people  had  lived  and  frater 
nised  long  enough  to  create  the  atmosphere  he 
craved  so  ardently. 

While  Chinese  Wung  lighted  the  hall  gas  and 
busied  himself  with  their  hats  and  bags,  Psyche 
Bines  came  down  the  stairs  to  greet  them.  Never 
had  her  youthful  freshness  so  appealed  to  her 
brother.  The  black  gown  she  wore  emphasised  her 
blond  beauty.  As  to  give  her  the  aspect  of  mourn 
ing  one  might  have  tried  as  reasonably  to  hide  the 
radiance  of  the  earth  in  springtime  with  that  trifling 
pall. 

Her  brother  kissed  her  with  more  than  his  usual 
warmth.  Here  was  one  to  feel  what  he  felt, 
to  sympathise  warmly  with  all  those  new  yearnings 
that  were  to  take  him  out  of  the  crude  West.  She 
wanted,  for  his  own  reasons,  all  that  he  wanted. 
She  understood  him ;  and  she  was  his  ally  against 
the  aged  and  narrow  man  who  would  have  held 
them  to  life  in  that  physical  and  social  desert. 


THE    SPENDERS  127 

"  Well,  sis,  here  we  are!  "  he  began.  "  How  fine 
you're  looking!  And  how  is  Mrs.  Throckmorton ? 
Give  her  my  love  and  ask  her  if  she  can  be  ready 
to  start  for  the  effete  East  in  twenty  minutes." 

It  was  his  habit  to  affect  that  he  constantly  for 
got  his  mother's  name.  He  had  discovered  years 
before  that  he  was  sometimes  able  thus  to  puzzle  her 
momentarily. 

"  Why,  Percival !  "  exclaimed  this  excellent  lady, 
coming  hurriedly  from  the  kitchen  regions,  "  I 
haven't  a  thing  packed.  Twenty  minutes!  Good 
ness!  I  do  declare!  " 

It  was  an  infirmity  of  Mrs.  Bines  that  she  was 
unable  to  take  otherwise  than  literally  whatever 
might  be  said  to  her;  an  infirmity  known  and 
played  upon  relentlessly  by  her  son. 

"Oh,  well!"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  show  of 
irritation.  "  I  suppose  we'll  be  delayed  then. 
That's  like  a  woman.  Never  ready  on  time.  Proba 
bly  we  can't  start  now  till  after  dinner.  Now  hurry ! 
You  know  that  boat  leaves  the  dock  for  Tonsilitis 
at  8.23  —  I  hope  you  won't  be  seasick." 

"  Boat  —  dock  —  '  Mrs.  Bines  stopped  to  con 
vince  herself  beyond  a  certainty  that  no  dock  nor 
boat  could  be  within  many  hundred  miles  of  her 
by  any  possible  chance. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Psyche ;  "  give  ma  half  an 
hour's  notice  and  she  can  start  for  any  old  place." 

"  Can't  she  though !  "  and  Percival,  seizing  his 
astounded  mother,  waltzed  with  her  down  the  hall, 
leaving  her  at  the  far  end  with  profusely  polite 


128  THE    SPENDERS 

assurances  that  he  would  bring  her  immediately  a 
lemon-ice,  an  ice-pick,  and  a  cold  roast  turkey  with 
pink  stockings  on. 

"  Never  mind,  Mrs.  Cartwright,"  he  called  back 
to  her  —  "oh,  beg  pardon — Bines?  yes,  yes,  to 
be  sure  —  well,  never  mind,  Mrs.  Brennings.  We'll 
give  you  time  to  put  your  gloves  and  a  bottle  of 
horse-radish  and  a  nail-file  and  hammer  into  that 
neat  travelling-bag  of  yours. 

"  Now  let  me  go  up  and  get  clean  again.  That 
lovely  alkali  dust  has  worked  clear  into  my  bearings 
so  I'm  liable  to  have  a  hot  box  just  as  we  get  the 
line  open  ninety  miles  ahead." 

At  dinner  and  afterwards  the  new  West  and  the 
old  aligned  themselves  into  hostile  camps,  as  of 
yore.  The  young  people  chatted  with  lively  interest 
of  the  coming  change,  of  the  New  York  people  who 
had  visited  the  mine,  of  the  attractions  and  advan 
tages  of  life  in  New  York. 

Uncle  Peter,  though  he  had  long  since  recog 
nised  his  cause  as  lost,  remained  doggedly  inimical 
to  the  migration.  The  home  was  being  broken  up 
and  he  was  depressed. 

"  Anyhow,  you'll  soon  be  back,"  he  warned  them. 

'  You  won't  like  it  a  mite.     I  tried  it  myself  thirty 

years  ago.     I'll  jest  camp  here  until  you  do  come 

back.     My!    but  you'll  be  glad  to  get  here  again." 

"  Why  not  have  Billy  Brue  come  stay  with  you," 
suggested  Mrs.  Bines,  who  was  hurting  herself 
with  pictures  of  the  old  man's  loneliness,  "  in  case 
you  should  want  a  plaster  on  your  back  or  some  nut- 


THE    SPENDERS  129 

meg  tea  brewed,  or  anything"?  That  Wung  is  so 
trifling." 

"  Maybe  1  might,"  replied  the  old  man,  "  but 
Billy  Brue  ain't  exactly  broke  to  a  shack  like  this. 
1  know  just  what  he'd  do  all  his  spare  time;  he'd 
set  down  to  that  new-fangled  horseless  piano  and 
play  it  to  death." 

Uncle  Peter  meant  the  new  automatic  piano 
in  the  parlour.  As  far  as  the  new  cabinet 
was  from  the  what-not  this  modern  bit  of  mechan 
ism  was  from  the  old  cottage  organ  —  the  latter 
with  its  "  Casket  of  Household  Melodies "  and 
the  former  with  its  perforated  paper  repertoire  of 
"  The  World's  Best  Music,"  ranging  without  preju 
dice  from  Beethoven's  Fifth  Symphony  to  "  I  Never 
Did  Like  a  Nigger  Nohow,"  by  a  composer  who 
shall  be  unnamed  on  this  page. 

"  And  Uncle  Peter  won't  have  any  one  to  bother 
him  when  he  makes  a  litter  with  all  those  old  plans 
and  estimates  and  maps  of  his,"  said  Psyche; 
"  you'll  be  able  to  do  a  lot  more  work,  Uncle 
Peter,  this  winter." 

"  Yes,  only  I  ain't  got  any  more  work  to  do 
than  I  ever  had,  and  I  always  managed  to  do  that, 
no  matter  how  you  did  clean  up  after  me  and 
mix  up  my  papers.  I'm  like  old  Nigger  Pomeroy. 
He  was  doin'  a  job  of  whitewashin'  one  day,  and 
he  had  an  old  whitewash  brush  with  most  of  the 
hair  gone  out  of  it.  I  says  to  him,  '  Pomeroy,  why 
don't  you  get  you  a  new  brush  ?  you  could  do  twice 
as  much  work.'  And  Pomeroy  says,  '  That's  right, 


130  THE    SPENDERS 

Mr.  Bines,  but  the  trouble  is  I  ain't  got  twice  as 
much  work  to  do.'  So  don't  you  folks  get  out  on 
my  account,"  he  concluded,  politely. 

"And  you  know  we  shall  be  in  mourning,"  said 
Psyche  to  her  brother. 

"  I've  thought  of  that.  We  can't  do  any  enter 
taining,  except  of  the  most  informal  kind,  and  we 
can't  go  out,  except  very  informally;  but,  then, 
you  know,  there  aren't  many  people  that  have  us 
on  their  lists,  and  while  we're  keeping  quiet  we 
shall  have  a  chance  to  get  acquainted  a  little." 

"  I  hear  they  do  have  dreadful  times  with  help 
in  New  York,"  said  Mrs.  Bines. 

"  Don't  let  that  bother  you,  ma,"  her  son  reas 
sured  her.  "  We'll  go  to  the  Hightower  Hotel, 
first.  You  remember  you  and  pa  were  there  when 
it  first  opened.  It's  twice  as  large  now,  and  we'll 
take  a  suite,  have  our  meals  served  privately,  our 
own  servants  provided  by  the  hotel,  and  you  won't 
have  a  thing  to  worry  you.  We'll  be  snug  there 
for  the  winter.  Then  for  the  summer  we'll  go  to 
Newport,  and  when  we  come  back  from  there  we'll 
take  a  house.  Meantime,  after  we've  looked  around 
a  bit,  we'll  build,  maybe  up  on  one  of  those  fine 
corners  east  of  the  Park." 

"  I  almost  dread  it,"  his  mother  rejoined.  "  I 
never  did  see  how  they  kept  track  of  all  the  help 
in  that  hotel,  and  if  it's  twice  as  monstrous  now. 
however  do  they  do  it  —  and  have  the  beds  all 
made  every  day  and  the  meals  always  on  time?" 

"  And  you  can  get  meals  there,"  said  Percival. 


THE    SPENDERS  131 

"  I've  been  needing  a  broiled  lobster  all  summer  — 
and  now  the  oysters  will  be  due  —  fine  fat  Buzzard's 
Bays  —  and  oyster  crabs.1" 

"  He  ain't  been  able  to  touch  a  morsel  out  here," 
observed  Uncle  Peter,  with  a  palpably  false  air  of 
concern.  "  I  got  all  worried  up  about  him,  barely 
peckin1  at  a  crumb  or  two." 

"  I  never  could  learn  to  eat  those  oysters  out  of 
their  shells,"  Mrs.  Bines  confessed.  "  They  taste 
so  much  better  out  of  the  can.  Once  we  had  them 
raw  and  on  two  of  mine  were  those  horrid  little 
green  crabs,  actually  squirming.  I  was  going  to 
send  them  back,  but  your  pa  laughed  and  ate  them 
himself  —  ate  them  alive  and  kicking." 

"And  terrapin!"  exclaimed  Percival,  with  an 
ticipatory  relish. 

"  That  terrapin  stew  does  taste  kind  of  good," 
his  mother  admitted,  "  but,  land's  sakes !  it  has  so 
many  little  bits  of  bones  in  it  I  always  get  nervous 
eating  it.  It  makes  me  feel  as  if  all  my  teeth  was 
coming  out." 

"  You'll  soon  learn  all  those  things,  ma,"  said 
her  daughter  —  "  and  not  to  talk  to  the  waiters, 
and  everything  like  that.  She  always  asks  them 
how  much  they  earn,  and  if  they  have  a  family,  and 
how  many  children,  and  if  any  of  them  are  sick, 
you  know,"  she  explained  to  Percival. 

"  And  I  s'pose  you  ain't  much  of  a  hand  fur 
smokin'  cigarettes,  are  you,  ma?  "  inquired  Uncle 
Peter,  casually. 

"Me!"   exclaimed   Mrs.    Bines,   in   horror;    "I 


132  THE    SPENDERS 

never  smoked  one  of  the  nasty  little  things  in  my 
life." 

"  Son,"  said  the  old  man  to  Percival,  reproach 
fully,  "  is  that  any  way  to  treat  your  own  mother? 
Here  she's  had  all  this  summer  to  learn  cigarette 
smokin',  and  you  ain't  put  her  at  it  —  all  that  time 
wasted,  when  you  know  she's  got  to  learn.  Get 
her  one  now  so  she  can  light  up." 

"  Why,  Uncle  Peter  Bines,  how  absurd !  "  ex 
claimed  his  granddaughter. 

"  Well,  them  ladies  smoked  the  other  day,  and 
they  was  some  of  the  reg'ler  original  van  Vanvans. 
You  don't  want  your  poor  ma  kep'  out  of  the  game, 
do  you  ?  Coin'  to  let  her  set  around  and  toy 
with  the  coppers,  or  maybe  keep  cases  now  and 
then,  are  you?  Or,  you  goin'  to  get  her  a  stack 
of  every  colour  and  let  her  play  with  you?  Pish, 
now,  havin'  been  to  a  'Frisco  seminary  —  she  can 
pick  it  up,  prob'ly  in  no  time ;  but  ma  ought  to 
have  practice  here  at  home,  so  she  can  find  out  what 
brand  she  likes  best.  Now,  Marthy.  them  Turkish 
cigarettes,  in  a  nice  silver  box  with  some  naked 
ladies  painted  on  the  outside,  and  your  own  mono 
gram  '  M.  B.'  in  gold  letters  on  every  cigarette  — 

"  Don't  let  him  scare  you,  ma,"  Percival  inter 
rupted.  "  You'll  get  into  the  game  all  right,  and 
I'll  see  that  you  have  a  good  time." 

"  Only  I  hope  the  First  M.  E.  Church  of  Mon 
tana  City  never  hears  of  her  outrageous  cuttin's-up," 
said  Uncle  Peter,  as  if  to  himself.  "  They'd  have 
her  up  and  church  her,  sure  —  smokin'  cigarettes 
with  her  gold  monogram  on,  at  her  age!" 


THE    SPENDERS  133 

"  And  of  course  we  must  go  to  the  Episcopal 
church  there,"  said  Psyche.  "  I  think  those  Epis 
copal  ministers  are  just  the  smartest  looking  men 
ever.  So  swell  looking,  and  anyway  it's  the  only 
church  the  right  sort  of  people  go  to.  We  must 
be  awfully  high  church,  too.  It's  the  very  best 
way  to  know  nice  people." 

"  I  s'pose  if  every  day'd  be  Sunday  by-and-bye, 
like  the  old  song  says,  it'd  be  easier  fur  you,  wouldn't 
it?"  asked  the  old  man.  "You  and  Petie  would 
be  401  and  402  in  jest  no  time  at  all." 

Uncle  Peter  continued  to  be  perversely  frivolous 
about  the  most  exclusive  metropolitan  society  in 
the  world.  But  Uncle  Peter  was  a  crabbed  old 
man,  lingering  past  his  generation,  and  the  young 
people  made  generous  allowance  for  his  infirmities. 

"  Only  there's  one  thing,"  said  his  sister  to  Perci- 
val,  when  later  they  were  alone,  "  we  must  be 
careful  about  ma;  she  will  persist  in  making  such 
dreadful  breaks,  in  spite  of  everything  I  can  do. 
In  San  Francisco  last  June,  just  before  we  went 
to  Steaming  Springs,  there  was  one  hot  day,  and 
of  course  everybody  was  complaining.  Mrs.  Beale 
remarked  that  it  wasn't  the  heat  that  bothered  us 
so,  but  the  humidity.  It  was  so  damp,  you  know. 
Ma  spoke  right  up  so  everybody  could  hear  her, 
and  said,  '  Yes ;  isn't  the  humidity  dreadful  ?  Why, 
it's  just  running  off  me  from  every  pore ! ' 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Argonauts  Return  to  the  Rising  Sun 

IT  was  mid-October.    The  two  saddle-horses  and 
a    team    for    carriage    use    had    been    shipped 
ahead.     In  the  private  car  the  little  party  was 
beginning  its  own  journey  Eastward.      From  the 
rear  platform  they  had  watched  the  tall  figure  of 
Uncle  Peter  Bines  standing  in  the  bright  autumn 
sun,  aloof  from  the  band  of  kerchief-waving  friends, 
the  droop  of  his  head  and  shoulders  showing  the 
dejection  he  felt  at  seeing  them  go.    He  had  resisted 
all  entreaties  to  accompany  them. 

His  last  injunction  to  Percival  had  been  to  marry 
early. 

"  I  know  your  stock  and  I  know  you"  he  said ; 
"  and  you  got  no  call  to  be  rangin'  them  pastures 
without  a  brand.  You  never  was  meant  fur  a 
maverick.  Only  don't  let  the  first  woman  that 
comes  ridin'  herd  get  her  iron  on  you.  No  man 
knows  much  about  the  critters,  of  course,  but  I've 
noticed  a  few  things  in  my  time.  You  pick  one 
that's  full-chested,  that's  got  a  fairish-sized  nose, 
and  that  likes  cats.  The  full  chest  means  she's 
healthy,  the  nose  means  she  ain't  finicky,  and  likin' 

134 


THE    SPENDERS  135 

cats  means  she's  kind  and  honest  and  unselfish. 
Ever  notice  some  women  when  a  cat's  around  ?  They 
pretend  to  like  'em  and  say  '  Nice  kitty ! '  but  you 
can  see  they're  viewin'  'em  with  bitter  hate  and 
suspicion.  If  they  have  to  stroke  'em  they  do  it 
plenty  gingerly  and  you  can  see  'em  shudderin' 
inside  like.  It  means  they're  catty  themselves.  But 
when  one  grabs  a  cat  up  as  if  she  was  goin'  to  eat 
it  and  cuddles  it  in  her  neck  and  talks  baby-talk  to 
it,  you  play  her  fur  bein'  sound  and  true.  Pass  up 
the  others,  son. 

"  And  speakin'  of  the  fair  sex,"  he  added,  as  he 
and  Percival  were  alone  for  a  moment,  "  that  enter- 
prisin'  lady  we  settled  with  is  goin'  to  do  one  thing 
you'll  approve  of. 

"  She's  goin',"  he  continued,  in  answer  to  Perci- 
val's  look  of  inquiry,  "  to  take  her  bank-roll  to 
New  York.  She  says  it's  the  only  place  fur  folks 
with  money,  jest  like  you  say.  She  tells  Coplen 
that  there  wa'n't  any  fit  society  out  here  at  all,  —  no 
advantages  fur  a  lady  of  capacity  and  ambitions. 
I  reckon  she's  goin'  to  be  403  all  right." 

"  Seems  to  me  she  did  pretty  well  here;  I  don't 
see  any  kicks  due  her." 

"  Yes,  but  she's  like  all  the  rest.  The  West  was 
good  enough  to  make  her  money  in,  but  the  East 
gets  her  when  spendin'  time  comes." 

As  the  train  started  he  swung  himself  off  with  a 
sad  little  "  Be  good  to  yourself!  " 

'  Thank  the  Lord  we're  under  way  at  last!  "  cried 
Percival,  fervently,  when  the  group  at  the  station 
had  been  shut  from  view. 


136  THE    SPENDERS 

"Isn't  it  just  heavenly!''   exclaimed   his  sister. 
"  Think  of  having  all  of  New  York  you  want  — 
being  at  home  there  —  and  not  having  to  look  for 
ward  to  this  desolation  of  a  place." 

Mrs.  Bines  was  neither  depressed  nor  elated.  She 
was  maintaining  that  calm  level  of  submission  to 
fate  which  had  been  her  lifelong  habit.  The  jour 
ney  and  the  new  life  were  to  be  undertaken  because 
they  formed  for  her  the  line  of  least  resistance  along 
which  all  energy  must  flow.  Had  her  children 
elected  to  camp  for  the  remainder  of  their  days  in 
the  centre  of  the  desert  of  Gobi,  she  would  have 
faced  that  life  with  as  little  sense  of  personal  con 
cern  and  with  no  more  misgivings. 

Down  out  of  the  maze  of  hills  the  train  wound ; 
and  then  by  easy  grades  after  two  days  of  travel 
down  off  the  great  plateau  to  where  the  plains  of 
Nebraska  lay  away  to  a  far  horizon  in  brown 
billows  of  withered  grass. 

Then  came  the  crossing  of  the  sullen,  sluggish 
Missouri,  that  highway  of  an  earlier  day  to  the 
great  Northwest;  and  after  that  the  better  wooded 
and  better  settled  lands  of  Iowa  and  Illinois. 

"  Now  we're  getting  where  Christians  live,"  said 
Percival,  with  warm  appreciation. 

"  Why,  Percival,"  exclaimed  his  mother,  reprov 
ingly,  "  do  you  mean  to  say  there  aren't  any  Chris 
tians  in  Montana  City  ?  How  you  talk !  There  are 
lots  of  good  Christian  people  there,  though  I  must 
say  I  have  my  doubts  about  that  new  Christian 
Science  church  they  started  last  spring." 


THE    SPENDERS  137 

"  The  term,  Mrs.  Thorndike,  was  used  in  its 
social  rather  than  its  theological  significance," 
replied  her  son,  urbanely.  "  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  impugn  the  religion  of  that  community  of  which 
we  are  ceasing  to  be  integers  at  the  pleasing  rate 
of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  God  knows  they  need  their 
faith  in  a  different  kind  of  land  hereafter!" 

And  even  Airs.  Bines  was  not  without  a  sense 
of  quiet  and  rest  induced  by  the  gentler  contours 
of  the  landscape  through  which  they  now  sped. 

"  The  country  here  does  seem  a  lot  cosier,"  she 
admitted. 

The  hills  rolled  away  amiably  and  reassuringly; 
the  wooded  slopes  in  their  gay  colouring  of  autumn 
invited  confidence.  Here  were  no  forbidding 
stretches  of  the  grey  alkali  desert,  no  grim  bare 
mountains,  no  solitude  of  desolation.  It  was  a  kind 
land,  fat  with  riches.  The  shorn  yellow  fields,  the 
capacious  red  barns,  the  \vell-conditioned  homes, 
all  told  eloquently  of  peace  and  plenty.  So,  too, 
did  the  villages  —  those  lively  little  clearing-houses 
for  immense  farming  districts.  To  the  adventurer 
from  New  York  they  seem  always  new  and  crude. 
To  our  travellers  from  a  newer,  cruder  region  they 
were  actually  aesthetic  in  their  suggestions  of  an  old 
and  well-established  civilisation. 

In  due  time  they  were  rattling  over  a  tangled 
maze  of  switches,  dodging  interminable  processions 
of  freight-cars,  barely  missing  crowded  passenger 
trains  whose  bells  struck  clear  and  then  flatted  as 
the  trains  flew  by;  defiling  by  narrow  water-ways, 


138  THE    SPENDERS 

crowded  with  small  shipping;  winding  through 
streets  lined  with  high,  gloomy  warehouses,  amid 
the  clang  and  clatter,  the  strangely-sounding  bells 
and  whistles  of  a  thousand  industries,  each  sending 
up  its  just  contribution  of  black  smoke  to  the  pall 
that  lay  always  spread  above;  and  steaming  at  last 
into  a  great  roomy  shed  where  all  was  system,  and 
where  the  big  engine  trembled  and  panted  as  if  in 
relief  at  having  run  in  safety  a  gantlet  so 
hazardous. 

"  Anyway,  I'd  rather  live  in  Montana  City  than 
Chicago,"  ventured  Mrs.  Bines. 

"  Whatever  pride  you  may  feel  in  your  discern 
ment,  Mrs.  Cadwallader,  is  amply  justified,"  replied 
her  son,  performing  before  the  amazed  lady  a  bow 
that  indicated  the  lowest  depths  of  slavish  deference. 

"  I  am  now/'  he  continued,  "  going  out  to  pace 
the  floor  of  this  locomotive-boudoir  for  a  few  exhila 
rating  breaths  of  smoke,  and  pretend  to  myself 
that  I've  got  to  live  in  Chicago  for  ever.  A  little 
discipline  like  that  is  salutary  to  keep  one  from 
forgetting  the  great  blessing  which  a  merciful 
Providence  has  conferred  upon  one." 

"  I'll  walk  a  bit  with  you,"  said  his  sister,  donning 
her  jacket  and  a  cap. 

"  Lest  my  remarks  have  seemed  indeterminate, 
madam,"  sternly  continued  Percival  at  the  door  of 
the  car,  "  permit  me  to  add  that  if  Chicago  were 
heaven  I  should  at  once  enter  upon  a  life  of  crime. 
Do  not  affect  to  misunderstand  me,  I  beg  of  you. 
I  should  leave  no  avenue  of  salvation  open  to  my 


THE    SPENDERS  139 

precious  soul.  I  should  incur  no  risk  of  being 
numbered  among  the  saved,  i  should  be  b-a-d,  and 
1  should  sit  up  nights  to  invent  new  ways  of  evil. 
If  I  had  any  leisure  left  from  being  as  wicked 
as  I  could  be,  I  should  devote  it  to  teaching  those  I 
loved  how  to  become  abandoned.  I  should  doubtless 
issue  a  pamphlet,  "  How  to  Merit  Perdition  Without 
a  Master.  Learn  to  be  Wicked  in  your  Own  Home 
in  Ten  Lessons.  Instructions  Sent  Securely  Sealed 
from  Observation.  Thousands  of  Testimonials 
from  the  Most  Accomplished  Reprobates  of  the 
Day.'  I  trust  Mrs.  Llewellen  Leffingwell-Thompson, 
that  you  will  never  again  so  far  forget  yourself  as 
to  utter  that  word  '  Chicago  '  in  my  presence.  If 
you  feel  that  you  must  give  way  to  the  evil  impulse, 
go  off  by  yourself  and  utter  the  name  behind  the 
protection  of  closed  doors  —  where  this  innocent 
girl  cannot  hear  you.  Come,  sister.  Otherwise  I 
may  behave  in  a  manner  to  be  regretted  in  my 
calmer  moments.  Let  us  leave  the  woman  alone, 
now.  Besides,  I've  got  to  go  out  and  help 
the "  hands  make  up  that  New  York  train.  You 
never  can  tell.  Some  horrible  accident  might 
happen  to  delay  us  here  thirty  minutes.  Cheer 
up,  ma;  it's  always  darkest  just  before  leaving 
Chicago,  you  know." 

Thus  flippantly  do  some  of  the  younger  sons  of 
men  blaspheme  this  metropolis  of  the  mid- West  — 
a  city  the  creation  of  which  is,  by  many  persons 
of  discrimination,  held  to  be  the  chief  romance  and 
abiding  miracle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


140  THE    SPENDERS 

Let  us  rejoice  that  one  such  partisan  was  now 
at  hand  to  stem  the  torrent  of  abuse.  As  Percival 
held  back  the  door  for  his  sister  to  pass  out,  a 
stout  little  ruddy-faced  man  with  trim  grey  side- 
whiskers  came  quickly  up  the  steps  and  barred  their 
way  with  cheery  aggressiveness. 

"Ah!  Mr.  Higbee  —  well,  well!"  exclaimed 
Percival,  cordially. 

'  Thought  it  might  be  some  of  you  folks  when 
I  saw  the  car,"  said  Higbee,  shaking  hands  all 
around. 

"And  Mrs.  Bines,  too!  and  the  girl,  looking 
like  a  Delaware  peach  when  the  crop's  '  failed.' 
How's  everybody,  and  how  long  you  going  to  be 
in  the  good  old  town?" 

"  Ah !  \ve  were  just  speaking  of  Chicago  as 
you  came  in,"  said  Percival,  blandly.  "  Isn't  she 
a  great  old  town,  though  —  a  wonder!"' 

"  My  boy,"  said  Higbee,  in  low,  solemn  tones 
that  came  straight  from  his  heart,  "  she  gets  greater 
every  day  you  live.  You  can  sec  her  at  it,  fairly. 
How  long  since  you  been  here?" 

"  I  came  through  last  June,  you  know,  after  I 
left  your  yacht  at  Newport." 

"  Yes,  yes ;  to  be  sure;  so  you  did  —  poor  Daniel 
J .  —  but  say,  you  wouldn't  know  the  town  now  if 
you  haven't  seen  it  since  then.  Why.  I  run  over 
from  New  York  every  thirty  days  or  so  and  she 
grows  out  of  my  ken  every  time,  like  a  five-year-old 
boy.  Say,  I've  got  Mrs.  Higbee  up  in  the  New  York- 
sleeper,  but  if  you're  going  to  be  here  a  spell  we'll 


THE    SPENDERS  141 

stop  a  few  days  longer  and  I'll  drive  you  around  - 
what  say  ?  —  packing  houses  —  Lake  Shore  Drive 
-  Lincoln  Park  — 

He  waited,  glowing  confidently,  as  one  submitting 
irresistible  temptations. 

Percival   beamed  upon  him   with  moist   eyes. 

"  By  Jove,  Mr.  Higbee !    that's  clever  of  you  - 
it's  royal !     Sis  and  I  would  like  nothing  better  — 
but  you  see  my  poor  mother  here  is  almost  down 
with  nervous  prostration  and  we've  got  to  hurry 
her    to    New    York    without    an    hour's    delay    to 
consult  a  specialist.     We're  afraid  "    -  he  glanced 
anxiously  at  the  astounded  Mrs.  Bines,  and  lowered 
his  voice  —  "  we're  afraid  she  may  not  be  with  us 
long." 

"  Why,  Percival,''  began  Mrs.  Bines,  dazedly, 
"  you  was  just  saying  — 

"  Now  don't  fly  all  to  pieces,  ma !  —  take  it 
easy  —  you're  with  friends,  be  sure  of  that.  You 
needn't  beg  us  to  go  on.  You  know  we  wouldn't 
think  of  stopping  when  it  may  mean  life  or  death 
to  you.  You  see  just  the  way  she  is,"  he  con 
tinued  to  the  sympathetic  Higbee  —  "  we're  afraid 
she  may  collapse  any  moment.  So  we  must  wait 
for  another  time;  but  I'll  tell  you  what  you  do; 
go  get  Mrs.  Higbee  and  your  traps  and  come  let 
us  put  you  up  to  New  York.  We've  got  lots  of 
room  —  run  along  now  —  and  we'll  have  some  of 
that  ham,  '  the  kind  you  have  always  bought,'  for 
lunch.  A.  L.  Jackson  is  a  miserable  cook,  too,  if 
I  don't  know  the  truth." 


142  THE    SPENDERS 

Gently  urging  Higbee  through  the  door,  he  stifled 
a  systematic  inquiry  into  the  details  of  Mrs.  Bines's 
affliction. 

"  Come  along  quick!  I'll  go  help  you  and  we'll 
have  Mrs.  Higbee  back  before  the  train  starts." 

"  Do  you  know,"  Mrs.  Bines  thoughtfully  ob 
served  to  her  daughter,  "  I  sometimes  mistrust 
Percival  ain't  just  right  in  his  head ;  you  remember 
he  did  have  a  bad  fall  on  it  when  he  was  two  years 
and  five  months  old  —  two  years,  five  months,  and 
eighteen  clays.  The  way  he  carries  on  right  before 
folks'  faces !  That  time  I  went  through  the  asylum 
at  Butte  there  was  a  young  man  kept  going  on 
with  the  same  outlandish  rigmarole  just  like 
Percival.  The  idea  of  Percival  telling  me  to  eat 
a  lemon-ice  with  an  ice-pick,  and  'Oh,  why  don't 
the  flesh-brushes  \vear  nice,  proper  clothes-brushes !  ' 
and  be  sure  and  hammer  my  nails  good  and  hard 
after  I  get  them  manicured.  And  back  home  he 
was  always  wanting  to  know  where  the  meat-augers 
were,  saying  he'd  just  bought  nine  hundred  new 
ones  and  he'd  have  to  order  a  ton  more  if  they  were 
all  lost.  I  don't  believe  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
meat-auger.  I  don't  know  what  on  earth  a  body 
could  do  with  one.  And  that  other  young  man," 
she  concluded,  significantly,  "  they  had  him  in  a 
little  bit  of  a  room  with  an  iron-barred  door  to  it 
like  a  prison-cell." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Mr.  Higbec  Communicates  Some    Valuable 
Information 

THE  Higbees  were  presently  at  home  in  the 
Bines   car.      Mrs.    Higbee   was   a   pleasant, 
bustling,  plump  little  woman,  sparkling-eyed 
and   sprightly.      Prominent   in   her  manner   was   a 
helpless  little  confession  of  inadequacy  to  her  am 
bitions  that  made  her  personality  engaging.     To  be 
energetic  and  friendly,  and  deeply  absorbed  in  people 
who  were  bold  and  confident,  was  her  attitude. 

She  began  bubbling  at  once  to  Mrs.  Bines  and 
Psyche  of  the  latest  fashions  for  mourners.  Crepe 
was  more  swagger  than  ever  before,  both  as 
trimming  and  for  entire  costumes. 

"  House  gowns,  my  dear,  and  dinner  gowns, 
made  entirely  of  crepe  in  the  Princesse  style,  will 
exactly  suit  your  daughter  —  and  on  the  dinner 
gowns  she  can  wear  a  trimming  of  that  dull  jet 
passementerie/' 

From  gowns  she  went  naturally  to  the  difficulty 
of  knowing  whom  to  meet  in  a  city  like  New  York 
—  and  how  to  meet  them  —  and  the  watchfulness 
required  to  keep  daughter  Millie  from  becoming 
entangled  with  leading  theatrical  gentlemen. 

143 


i44  THE    SPENDERS 

Amid  Percival's  lamentations  that  he  must  so 
soon  leave  Chicago,  the  train  moved  slowly  out  of 
the  big  shed  to  search  in  the  interwoven  puzzle  of 
tracks  for  one  that  led  to  the  East. 

As  they  left  the  centre  of  the  city  Higbee  drew 
Percival  to  one  of  the  broad  side  windows. 

"  Pull  up  your  chair  and  sit  here  a  minute,"  he 
said,  with  a  mysterious  little  air  of  importance. 
"  There's  a  thing  this  train's  going  to  pass  right 
along  here  that  I  want  you  to  look  at.  Maybe 
you've  seen  better  ones,  of  course  —  and  then 
again  — 

It  proved  to  be  a  sign  some  twenty  feet  high 
and  a  whole  block  long.  Emblazoned  upon  its 
broad  surface  was  "  Higbee's  Hams."  At  one  end 
and  towering  another  ten  feet  or  so  above  the 
mammoth  letters  was  a  white-capped  and  aproned 
chef  abandoning  his  mercurial  French  temperament 
to  an  utter  frenzy  of  delight  over  a  "  Higbee's 
Ham  "  which  had  apparently  just  been  vouchsafed 
to  him  by  an  invisible  benefactor. 

"  There,  now !  "  exclaimed  Higbee  ;  "  what  do 
you  call  that  —  I  want  to  know  —  hey?" 

"Great!  Magnificent!"  cried  Percival,  with  the 
automatic  and  ready  hypocrisy  of  a  sympathetic 
nature.  "  That  certainly  is  great." 

"Notice  the  size  of  it?"  queried  Higbee,  when 
they  had  flitted  by. 

"  Did  I !  "  exclaimed  the  young  man,  reproach 
fully. 

"  We  went  by  pretty  fast  —  you  couldn't  see  it 


THE    SPENDERS  145 

well.  I  tell  you  the  way  they're  allowed  to  run 
trains  so  fast  right  here  in  this  crowded  city  is 
an  outrage.  I'm  blamed  if  I  don't  have  my  lawyer 
take  it  up  with  the  Board  of  Aldermen  —  slaughter 
ing  people  on  their  tracks  right  and  left  —  you'd 
think  these  railroad  companies  owned  the  earth  - 
But  that  sign,  now.  Did  you  notice  you  could  read 
every  letter  in  the  label  on  that  ham  ?  You  wouldn't 
think  it  was  a  hundred  yards  back  from  the  track, 
would  you?  Why,  that  label  by  actual  measure  is 
six  feet,  four  inches  across  —  and  yet  it  looks  as 
small  —  and  everything  all  in  the  right  proportion, 
it's  wonderful.  It's  what  I  call  art,"  he  concluded, 
in  a  slightly  dogmatic  tone. 

"  Of  course  it's  art,"   Percival  agreed ;    "  er  — 
all  —  hand-painted,  I  suppose?  " 

"  Sure!  that  painting  alone,  letters  and  all,  cost 
four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  I've  just  had  it 
put  up.  I've  been  after  that  place  for  years,  but 
it  was  held  on  a  long  lease  by  Max,  the  Square 
Tailor  —  you  know.  You  probably  remember  the 
sign  he  had  there  —  '  Peerless  Pants  Worn  by 
Chicago's  Best  Dressers  '  writh  a  man  in  his  shirt 
sleeves  looking  at  a  new  pair.  Well,  finally,  I  got 
a  chance  to  buy  those  two  back  lots,  and  that  give 
me  the  site,  and  there  she  is,  all  finished  and  up. 
That's  partly  what  I  come  on  this  time  to  see  about. 
How'd  you  like  the  wording  of  that  sign?" 

"  Fine  —  simple  and  effective,"  replied  Percival. 

"  That's  it  —  simple  and  effective.  It  goes  right 
to  the  point  and  it  don't  slop  over  beyond  any, 


146  THE    SPENDERS 

after  it  gets  there.  We  studied  a  good  deal  over 
that  sign.  The  other  man,  the  tailor,  had  too 
many  words  for  the  board  space.  My  advertisin' 
man  wanted  it  to  be,  first,  '  Higbee's  Hams,  That's 
All.'  But,  I  don't  know  —  for  so  big  a  space  that 
seemed  to  me  kind  of  —  well  —  kind  of  flippant 
and  undignified.  Then  I  got  it  down  to  *  Eat  Hig 
bee's  Hams.'  That  seemed  short  enough — but  after 
studying  it,  I  says,  What's  the  use  of  saying  '  eat  '  ? 
No  one  would  think,  I  says,  that  a  ham  is  to  paper 
the  walls  with  or  to  stuff  sofa-cushions  with  —  so 
oft"  comes  '  eat '  as  being  super/focus,  and  leaving 
it  simple  and  dignified  —  '  Higbee's  Hams.'  ' 

"  By  the  wfay,"  said  Percival,  when  they  were 
sitting  together  again,  later  in  the  day,  "  where 
is  Henry,  now  ?  " 

Higbee  chuckled. 

"  That's  the  other  thing  took  me  back  this  time  — 
the  new  sign  and  getting  Hank  started.  Henry  is 
now  working  ten  hours  a  clay  out  to  the  packing 
house.  After  a  year  of  that,  he'll  be  taken  into 
the  office  and  his  hours  will  be  cut  down  to  eight. 
Eight  hours  a  day  will  seem  like  sinful  idleness  to 
Henry  by  that  time." 

Percival  whistled  in  amazement. 

"  I  thought  you'd  be  surprised.  But  the  short 
of  it  is,  Henry  found  himself  facing  work  or  starva 
tion.  He  didn't  want  to  starve  a  little  bit,  and  he 
finally  concluded  he'd  rather  work  for  his  dad  than 
any  one  else. 

"  You  see  Henry  was  doing  the  Rake's  Progress 


THE    SPENDERS  147 

act  there  in  New  York  —  being  a  gilded  youth  and 
such  like.  Now  being  a  gilded  youth  and  '  a  well- 
known  man  about  town  '  is  something  that  wants 
to  be  done  in  moderation,  and  Henry  didn't  seem  to 
know  the  meaning  of  the  word.  I  put  up  something 
like  a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  for 
Hank's  gilding  last  year.  Not  that  I  grudged  him 
the  money,  but  it  wasn't  doing  him  any  good.  He 
was  making  a  monkey  of  himself  with  it,  Henry 
was.  A  good  bit  of  that  hundred  and  eighty  went 
into  a  comic  opera  company  that  was  one  of  the 
worst  I  ever  did  see.  Henry  had  no  judgment. 
He  was  too  easy.  Well,  along  this  summer  he  was 
on  the  point  of  making  a  break  that  would  —  well, 
I  says  to  him,  says  I,  '  Hank,  I'm  no  penny-squeezer ; 
I  like  good  stretchy  legs  myself,'  I  says;  '  I  like  to 
see  them  elastic  so  they'll  give  a  plenty  when  they're 
pulled;  but,'  I  says,  '  if  you  take  that  step,'  I  says, 
'  if  you  declare  yourself,  then  the  rubber  in  your 
legs,'  I  says,  'will  just  naturally  snap;  you'll  find 
you've  overplayed  the  tension,'  I  says,  '  and  there 
won't  be  any  more  stretch  left  in  them.' 

"  The  secret  is,  Hank  was  being  chased  by  a 
whole  family  of  wolves  —  that's  the  gist  of  it  - 
fortune-hunters  —  with  tushes  like  the  ravening  lion 
in  Afric's  gloomy  jungle.  They  \vere  not  only 
cold,  stone  broke,  mind  you,  but  hyenas  into  the 
bargain  —  the  father  and  the  mother  and  the  girl, 
too. 

"  They'd  got  their  minds  made  up  to  marry  the 
girl  to  a  good  wad  of  money  —  and  they'll  do  it, 


148  THE    SPENDERS 

too,  sooner  or  later,  because  she's  a  corker  for 
looks,  all  right  —  and  they'd  all  made  a  dead  set 
for  Hank ;  so,  quick  as  I  saw  how  it  was,  I  says, 
'  Here,'  I  says,  '  is  where  I  save  my  son  and  heir 
from  a  passel  of  butchers,'  I  says,  '  before  they 
have  him  scalded  and  dressed  and  hung  up  outside 
the  shop  for  the  holiday  trade,'  I  says,  '  with  the 
red  paper  rosettes  stuck  in  Henry's  chest,'  I  says." 

"  Are  the  New  York  girls  so  designing?  "  asked 
Percival. 

"  Is  Higbee's  ham  good  to  eat?  "  replied  Higbee, 
oracularly. 

"  So,"  he  continued,  "  when  I  made  up  my  mind 
to  put  my  foot  down  I  just  casually  mentioned  to 
the  old  lady  —  say,  she's  got  an  eye  that  would 
make  liquid  air  shiver  —  that  cold  blue  like  an 
army  overcoat  —  well,  I  mentioned  to  her  that 
Henry  was  a  spendthrift  and  that  he  wasn't  ever 
going  to  get  another  cent  from  me  that  he  didn't 
earn  just  the  same  as  if  he  wasn't  any  relation  of 
mine.  I  made  it  plain,  you  bet ;  she  found  just 
where  little  Henry-boy  stood  with  his  kind-hearted, 
liberal  old  father. 

"  Say,  maybe  Henry  wasn't  in  cold  storage  with 
the  whole  family  from  that  moment.  I  see  those 
fellows  in  the  laboratories  are  puttering  around 
just  now  trying  to  get  the  absolute  zero  of  tempera 
ture  —  say,  Henry  got  it,  and  he  don't  know  a  thing 
about  chemistry. 

"  Then  I  jounced  Hank.  1  proceeded  to  let 
him  know  he  was  up  against  it  —  right  close  up 


THE    SPENDERS  149 

against  it,  so  you  couldn't  see  daylight  between  'em. 
'  You're  twenty-five/  1  says,  '  and  you  play  the 
best  game  of  pool,  I'm  told,  of  any  of  the  chappies 
in  that  Father-Made-the-Money  club  you  got  into,' 
I  says;  'but  I've  looked  it  up,'  I  says,  'and  there 
ain't  really  what  you  could  call  any  great  future 
for  a  pool  champion/  I  says,  '  and  if  you're  ever 
going  to  learn  anything  else,  it's  time  you  was  at 
it,'  I  says.  '  Now  you  go  back  home  and  tell  the 
manager  to  set  you  to  work,'  I  says,  '  and  your 
wages  won't  be  big  enough  to  make  you  interesting 
to  any  skirt-dancer,  either,'  I  says.  '  And  you 
make  a  study  of  the  hog  from  the  ground  up. 
Exhaust  his  possibilities  just  like  your  father  done, 
and  make  a  man  of  yourself,  and  then  sometime,' 
I  says,  '  you'll  be  able  to  give  good  medicine  to  a 
cub  of  your  own  when  he  needs  it.'  ' 

"  And  how  did  poor  Henry  take  all  that  ?  " 
"  Well,  Hank  squealed  at  first  like  he  was  getting 
the  knife;  but  finally  when  he  see  he  was  up 
against  it,  and  especially  when  he  see  how  this  girl 
and  her  family  throwed  him  down  the  elevator-shaft 
from  the  tenth  story,  why,  he  come  around  beauti 
fully.  He's  really  got  sense,  though  he  doesn't  look 
it  —  Henry  has  —  though  Lord  knows  I  didn't  pull 
him  up  a  bit  too  quick.  But  he  come  out  and  went 
to  work  like  I  told  him.  It's  the  greatest  thing 
ever  happened  to  him.  He  ain't  so  fat-headed  as 
he  was,  already.  Henry'll  be  a  man  before  his 
dad's  through  with  him." 

"But  weren't  the  young  people  disappointed?" 


150  THE   SPENDERS 

asked  Percival;    "weren't  they  in  love  with  each 
other?" 

"  In  love? ''  In  an  effort  to  express  scorn  ade 
quately  Mr.  Higbee  came  perilously  near  to  snorting-. 
"  What  do  you  suppose  a  girl  like  that  cares  for 
love?  She  was  dead  in  love  with  the  nice  long 
yellow-backs  that  I've  piled  up  because  the  public 
knows  good  ham  when  they  taste  it.  As  for  being 
in  love  with  Henry  or  with  any  man  —  say,  young 
fellow,  you've  got  something  to  learn  about  those 
New  York  girls.  And  this  one,  especially.  Why, 
it's  been  known  for  the  three  years  we've  been 
there  that  she's  simply  hunting  night  and  day  for 
a  rich  husband.  She  tries  for  'em  all  as  fast  as 
they  get  in  line." 

"  Henry  was  unlucky  in  finding  that  kind. 
They're  not  all  like  that  —  those  New  York  girls 
are  not,"  and  he  had  the  air  of  being  able  if  he 
chose  to  name  one  or  two  luminous  exceptions. 

"  Silas,"  called  Mrs.  Higbee,  "  are  you  telling 
Mr.  Bines  about  our  Henry  and  that  Milbrey  girl  ?  " 

"  Yep,"   answered  Higbee,   "  I  told  him." 

"About  what  girl?  —  what  was  her  name?" 
asked  Percival,  in  a  lower  tone. 

"  Milbrey's  that  family's  name  —  Horace  Mil 
brey  —  " 

"  Why,"    Percival    interrupted,    somewhat    awk 
wardly,  "  I  know  the  family  —  the  young  lady  - 
we  met  the  family  out  in  Montana  a  few  weeks  ago." 

"  Sure  enough  —  they  were  in  Chicago  and  had 
dinner  with  us  on  their  way  out." 


THE    SPENDERS  151 

"  I  remember  Mr.  Milbrey  spoke  of  what  fine 
claret  you  gave  him." 

"  Yes,  and  I  wasn't  stingy  with  ice,  either,  the 
way  those  New  York  people  always  are.  Why,  at 
that  fellow's  house  he  gives  you  that  claret  wine 
as  warm  as  soup. 

"  But  as  for  that  girl,"  he  added,  "  say,  she'd 
marry  me  in  a  minute  if  I  wasn't  tied  up  with 
the  little  lady  over  there.  Of  course  she'd  rather 
marry  a  sub-treasury;  she's  got  about  that  much 
heart  in  her  —  cold-blooded  as  a  German  carp. 
She'd  marry  me  —  she'd  marry  you,  if  you  was 
the  best  thing  in  sight.  But  say,  if  you  was  broke, 
she'd  have  about  as  much  use  for  you  as  Chicago's 
got  for  St.  Louis." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Some  Light    WitJi  a  Few  Side-lights 

THE  real   spring  in   New   York  comes  when 
blundering    nature    has    painted    the    outer 
wilderness    for    autumn.      What    is    called 
'*  spring  "  in  the  city  by  unreflecting  users  of  the 
word  is  a  tame,  insipid  season  yawning  into  not 
more  than  half-wakefulness  at  best.     The  trees  in 
the  gas-poisoned  soil  are  slow  in  their  greening,  the 
grass  has  but  a  pallid  city  vitality,  and  the  rows 
of  gaudy  tulips  set  out  primly  about  the  fountains 
in  the  squares  are  palpably  forced  and  alien. 

For  the  sumptuous  blending  and  flaunt  of  colour, 
the  spontaneous  awakening  of  warm,  throbbing  new 
life,  and  all  those  inspiring  miracles  of  regeneration 
which  are  performed  elsewhere  in  April  and  May, 
the  city-pent  must  wait  until  mid-October. 

This  is  the  spring  of  the  city's  year.  There  be 
those  to  hint  captiously  that  they  find  it  an  affair 
of  false  seeming;  that  the  gorgeous  colouring  is 
a  mere  trick  of  shop-window  cunning ;  that  the  time 
is  juiceless  and  devoid  of  all  but  the  specious 
delights  of  surface.  Yet  these,  perhaps,  are  unduly 
imaginative  for  a  world  where  any  satisfaction  is 
held  by  a  tenure  precarious  at  best. 

152 


THE    SPENDERS  153 

And  even  these  carpers,  be  they  never  so 
analytical,  can  at  least  find  no  lack  of  springtime 
fervour  in  the  eager  throngs  that  pass  entranced 
before  the  window  show.  They,  the  free-swinging, 
quick-moving  men  and  women  —  the  best  dressed 
of  all  throngs  in  this  young  world  —  sun-browned, 
sun-enlivened,  recreated  to  a  fine  mettle  for  enjoy 
ment  by  their  months  of  mountain  or  ocean  sport 
-  these  are,  indeed,  the  ones  for  whom  this  after- 
spring  is  made  to  bloom.  And,  since  they  find  it 
to  be  a  shifting  miracle  of  perfections,  how  are  they 
to  be  quarrelled  with? 

In  the  big  polished  windows  waxen  effigies  of 
fine  ladies,  gracefully  patient,  display  the  latest 
dinner-gown  from  Paris,  or  the  creamiest  of  be- 
ribboned  tea-gowns.  Or  they  pose  in  attitudes  of 
polite  adieux  and  greeting,  all  but  smothered  in 
a  king's  ransom  of  sable  and  ermine.  Or,  to  the 
other  extreme,  they  complacently  permit  themselves 
to  be  observed  in  the  intimate  revelations  of  Parisian 
lingerie,  with  its  misty  froth  of  embroideries,  its 
fine-spun  webs  of  foamy  lace. 

In  another  window,  behold  a  sprightly  and  en 
livening  ballet  of  shapely  silken  hosiery,  fitting 
its  sculptured  models  to  perfection,  ranging  in  tints 
from  the  first  tender  green  of  spring  foliage  to  the 
rose-pink  of  the  spring  sun's  after-glow. 

A  few  steps  beyond  we  may  study  a  window 
where  the  waxen  ladies  have  been  dismembered. 
Yet  a  second  glance  shows  the  retained  portions  to 
be  all  that  woman  herself  considers  important  when 


154  THE    SPENDERS 

she  tries  on  the  bird-toque  or  the  picture  hat,  or 
the  gauze  confection  for  afternoons.  The  satisfied 
smiles  of  these  waxen  counterfeits  show  them  to 
have  been  amply  recompensed,  with  the  headgear, 
for  their  physical  incompleteness. 

But  if  these  terraces  of  colour  and  grace  that 
line  the  sides  of  this  narrow  spring  valley  be  said 
to  contain  only  the  dry  husks  of  adornment,  surely 
there  may  be  found  others  more  technically  spring 
like. 

Here  in  this  broad  window,  foregathered  in  a 
congress  of  colours  designed  to  appetise,  are  the 
ripe  fruits  of  every  clime  and  every  season :  the 
Southern  pomegranate  beside  the  hardy  Northern 
apple,  scarlet  and  yellow;  the  early  strawberry  and 
the  late  ruddy  peach ;  figs  from  the  Orient  and 
pines  from  the  Antilles;  dates  from  Tunis  and 
tawny  persimmons  from  Japan;  misty  sea-green 
grapes  and  those  from  the  hot-house  —  tasteless, 
it  is  true,  but  so  lordly  in  their  girth,  and  royal 
purple ;  portly  golden  oranges  and  fat  plums ;  pears 
of  mellow  blondness  and  pink-skinned  apricots. 
Here  at  least  is  the  veritable  stuff  and  essence  of 
spring  with  all  its  attending  aromas  —  of  more 
integrity,  perhaps,  than  the  same  colourings  simu 
lated  by  the  confectioner's  craft,  in  the  near-by 
window-display  of  impossible  sweets. 

And  still  more  of  this  belated  spring  will  gladden 
the  eye  in  the  florist's  window.  In  June  the  florist's 
shop  is  a  poor  place,  sedulously  to  be  shunned. 
Nothing  of  note  blooms  there  then.  The  florist  him- 


THE    SPENDERS  155 

self  is  patently  ashamed  of  himself.  The  burden  of 
sustaining  his  traditions  he  puts  upon  a  few  de 
jected  shrubs  called  "  hardy  perennials  "  that  have 
to  labour  the  year  around.  All  summer  it  is  as 
if  the  place  feared  to  compete  with  nature  when 
colour  and  grace  flower  so  cheaply  on  every  southern 
hillside.  But  now  its  glories  bloom  anew,  and  its 
superiority  over  nature  becomes  again  manifest. 
Now  it  assembles  the  blossoms  of  a  whole  long  year 
to  bewilder  and  allure.  Its  windows  are  shaded 
glens,  vine-embowered,  where  spring,  summer,  and 
autumn  blend  in  all  their  regal  and  diverse  abun 
dance;  and  the  closing  door  of  the  shop  fans  out 
odours  as  from  a  thousand  Persian  gardens. 

But  spring  is  not  all  of  life,  nor  what  at  once 
chiefly  concerns  us.  There  are  people  to  be  noted : 
a  little  series  of  more  or  less  related  phenomena 
to  be  observed. 

One  of  the  people,  a  young  man,  stands  con 
veniently  before  this  same  florist's  window,  at 
that  hour  when  the  sun  briefly  flushes  this  narrow 
canon  of  Broadway  from  wall  to  wall. 

He  had  loitered  along  the  lively  highway  an 
hour  or  more,  his  nerves  tingling  responsively  to 
all  its  stimuli.  And  now  he  mused  as  he  stared 
at  the  tangled  tracery  of  ferns  against  the  high 
bank  of  wine-red  autumn  foliage,  the  royal  cluster 
of  white  chrysanthemums  and  the  big  jar  of 
American  Beauties. 

He  had  looked  forward  to  this  moment,  too  — 
when  he  should  enter  that  same  door  and  order  at 


156  THE    SPENDERS 

least  an  armful  of  those  same  haughty  roses  sent 
to  an  address  his  memory  cherished.  Yet  now, 
the  time  having  come,  the  zest  for  the  feat  was  gone. 
It  would  be  done;  it  were  ungraceful  not  to  do  it, 
after  certain  expressions ;  but  it  would  be  done  with 
no  heart  because  of  the  certain  knowledge  that  no 
one  —  at  least  no  one  to  be  desired  —  could  possi 
bly  care  for  him,  or  consider  him  even  with  interest 
for  anything  but  his  money  —  the  same  kind  of 
money  Higbee  made  by  purveying  hams  —  "  and 
she  wouldn't  care  in  the  least  whether  it  was  mine 
or  Higbee's,  so  there  was  a  lot  of  it." 

Yet  he  stepped  in  and  ordered  the  roses,  nor  did 
the  florist  once  suspect  that  so  lavish  a  buyer  of 
flowers  could  be  a  prey  to  emotions  of  corroding 
cynicism  toward  the  person  for  whom  they  were 
meant. 

From  the  florist's  he  returned  directly  to  the 
hotel  to  find  his  mother  and  Psyche  making  home 
like  the  suite  to  which  they  had  been  assigned. 
A  maid  was  unpacking  trunks  under  his  sister's 
supervision.  Mrs.  Bines  was  in  converse  with  a 
person  of  authoritative  manner  regarding  the  service 
to  be  supplied  them.  Two  maids  would  be  required, 
and  madame  would  of  course  wish  a  butler  - 

Mrs.  Bines  looked  helplessly  at  her  son  who  had 
just  entered. 

"  I  think  —  we've  —  we've  always  did  our  own 
buttling,"  she  faltered. 

The  person  was  politely  interested. 

"  I'll  attend  to  these  things,  ma,"  said  Percival, 
rather  suddenly. 


THE    SPENDERS  157 

"  Yes,  we'll  want  a  butler  and  the  two  maids, 
and  see  that  the  butler  knows  his  business,  please, 
and  —  here  —  take  this,  and  see  that  we're  properly 
looked  after,  will  you?" 

As  the  bill  bore  a  large  "  C  "  on  its  face,  and 
the  person  was  rather  a  gentleman  anyway,  this 
unfortunate  essay  at  irregular  conjugation  never 
fell  into  a  certain  class  of  anecdotes  which  Mrs. 
Bines's  best  friends  could  now  and  then  bring  them 
selves  to  relate  of  her. 

But  other  matters  are  forward.  We  may  next 
overtake  two  people  who  loiter  on  this  bracing 
October  day  down  a  leaf-strewn  aisle  in  Central 
Park. 

"  You,"  said  the  girl  of  the  pair,  "  least  of  all 
men  can  accuse  me  of  lacking  heart." 

"  You  are  cold  to  me  now." 

"  But  look,  think  —  what  did  I  offer  —  you've 
had  my  trust,  —  everything  I  could  bring  myself 
to  give  you.  Look  what  I  would  have  sacrificed 
at  your  call.  Think  how  I  waited  and  longed  for 
that  call." 

"  You  know  how  helpless  I  was." 

"  Yes,  if  you  wanted  more  than  my  bare  self. 
I  should  have  been  helpless,  too,  if  I  had  wanted 
more  than  —  than  you." 

"  It  would  have  been  folly  —  madness  —  that 
way." 

"Folly  —  madness?  Do  you  remember  the 
'Sonnet  of  Revolt'  you  sent  me?  Sit  on  this 
bench ;  I  wish  to  say  it  over  to  you,  very  slowly ; 


158  THE    SPENDERS 

I  want  you  to  hear  it  while  you  keep  your  later 
attitude  in  mind. 

" «  Life  —  what  is  life  ?     To  do  without  avail 
The  decent  ordered  tasks  of  every  day : 
Talk  with  the  sober:  join  the  solemn  play : 
Tell  for  the  hundredth  time  the  self-same  tale 
Told  by  our  grandsires  in  the  self-same  vale 
Where  the  sun  sets  with  even,  level  ray, 
And  nights,  eternally  the  same,  make  way 
For  hueless  dawns,  intolerably  pale  — '  " 

"  But  I  know  the  verse." 

"  No ;   hear  it  out ;  —  hear  what  you  sent  me : 

"  '  And  this  is  life  ?     Nay,  I  would  rather  see 

The  man  who  sells  his  soul  in  some  wild  cause : 
The  fool  who  spurns,  for  momentary  bliss, 
All  that  he  was  and  all  he  thought  to  be : 
The  rebel  stark  against  his  country's  laws : 
God's  own  mad  lover,  dying  on  a  kiss.'  " 

She  had  completed  the  verse  with  the  hint  of  a 
sneer  in  her  tones. 

'  Yes,  truly,  I  remember  it ;  but  some  clay  you'll 
thank  me  for  saving  you ;  of  course  it  would  have 
been  regular  in  a  way,  but  people  here  never  really 
forget  those  things  —  and  we'd  have  been  helpless 
—  some  day  you'll  thank  me  for  thinking  for  you." 

"  Why  do  you  believe  I'm  not  thanking  you 
already?  " 

"  Hang  it  all !  that's  what  you  made  me  think 
yesterday  when  I  met  you." 


THE    SPENDERS  159 

"And  so  you  called  me  heartless?  Now  tell 
me  just  what  you  expect  a  woman  in  my  position 
to  do.  1  offered  to  go  to  you  when  you  were 
ready.  Surely  that  showed  my  spirit  —  and  you 
haven't  known  me  these  years  without  knowing  it 
would  have  to  be  that  or  nothing." 

"  Well,  hang  it,  it  wasn't  like  the  last  time,  and 
you  know  it ;  you're  not  kind  any  longer.  You  can 
be  kind,  can't  you?  " 

Her  lip  showed  faintly  the  curl  of  scorn. 

"  No,  I  can't  be  kind  any  longer.  Oh,  I  see 
you've  known  your  own  mind  so  little;  there's 
been  so  little  depth  to  it  all;  you  couldn't  dare. 
It  was  foolish  to  think  I  could  show  you  my  mind." 

"But  you  still  care  for  me?" 

"  No ;  no,  f  don't.     You  should  have  no  reason 
to  think  so  if  I  did.     When  I  heard  you'd  made 
it  up  I  hated  you,  and  I  think  I  hate  you  now. 
Let  us  go  back.     No,  no,  please  don't  touch  me  — 
ever  again." 

Farther  down-town  in  the  cosy  drawing-room  of 
a  house  in  a  side  street  east  of  the  Avenue,  two 
other  persons  were  talking.  A  florid  and  profusely 
freckled  young  Englishman  spoke  protestingly  from 
the  hearth-rug  to  a  woman  who  had  the  air  of 
knowing  emphatically  better. 

"  But,  my  dear  Mrs.  Drelmer,  you  know,  really, 
I  can't  take  a  curate  with  me,  you  know,  and  send 
up  word  won't  she  be  good  enough  to  come  down 
stairs  and  marry  me  directly  —  not  when  I've  not 
seen  her,  you  know !  " 


160  THE    SPENDERS 

"Nonsense!"  replied  the  lady,  unimpressed. 
"  You  can  do  it  nearly  that  way,  if  you'll  listen 
to  me.  Those  Westerners  perform  quite  in  that 
manner,  I  assure  you.  They  call  it  '  hustling.'  ' 

"  Dear  me!  " 

"  Yes,  indeed,  '  dear  you.'  And  another  thing, 
I  want  you  to  forestall  that  Milbrey  youth,  and 
you  may  be  sure  he's  no  farther  away  than  Tuxedo 
or  Meadowbrook.  Now,  they  arrived  yesterday; 
they'll  be  unpacking  to-day  and  settling  to-morrow ; 
I'll  call  the  day  after,  and  you  shall  be  with  me." 

"  And  you  forget  that  —  that  devil  —  suppose 
she's  as  good  as  her  threat?" 

"Absurd!    how  could  she  be?" 

"  You  don't  know  her,  you  know,  nor  the  old 
beggar  either,  by  Jove !  " 

"  All  the  more  reason  for  haste.  We'll  call 
to-morrow.  Wait.  Better  still,  perhaps  I  can  enlist 
the  Gwilt-Athelston ;  I'm  to  meet  her  to-morrow. 
I'll  let  you  know.  Now  I  must  get  into  my  tea- 
harness,  so  run  along." 

We  are  next  constrained  to  glance  at  a  strong 
man  bowed  in  the  hurt  of  a  great  grief.  Horace 
Milbrey  sits  alone  in  his  gloomy,  high-ceilinged 
library.  His  attire  is  immaculate.  His  slender,  deli 
cate  hands  are  beautifully  white.  The  sensitive 
lines  of  his  fine  face  tell  of  the  strain  under  which 
he  labours.  What  dire  tragedies  are  those  we 
must  face  wholly  alone  —  where  we  must  hide  the 
wound,  perforce,  because  no  comprehending  sym 
pathy  flows  out  to  us ;  because  instinct  warns 


THE    SPENDERS  161 

that  no  help  may  come  save  from  the  soul's  own 
well  of  divine  fortitude.  Some  hope,  tenderly, 
almost  fearfully,  held  and  guarded,  had  perished 
on  the  day  that  should  have  seen  its  triumphant 
fruition.  He  raised  his  handsome  head  from  the 
antique,  claw-footed  desk,  sat  up  in  his  chair,  and 
stared  tensely  before  him.  His  emotion  was  not 
to  be  suppressed.  Do  tears  tremble  in  the  eyes  of 
the  strong  man?  Let  us  not  inquire  too  curiously. 
If  they  tremble  down  the  fine-skinned  cheek,  let 
us  avert  our  gaze.  For  grief  in  men  is  no  thing 
to  make  a  show  of. 

A  servant  passed  the  open  door  bearing  an 
immense  pasteboard  box  with  one  end  cut  out  to 
accommodate  the  long  stems  of  many  roses. 

"  Jarvis!  " 

"Yes,  sir!" 

"What  is  it?" 

"  Flowers,  sir,  for  Miss  Avice." 

"  Let  me  see  —  and  the  card?  " 

He  took  the  card  from  the  florist's  envelope  and 
glanced  at  the  name. 

"  Take  them  away." 

The  stricken  man  was  once  more  alone;  yet  now 
it  was  as  if  the  tender  beauty  of  the  flowers  had 
balmed  his  hurt  —  taught  him  to  hope  anew.  Let 
us  in  all  sympathy  and  hope  retire. 

For  cheerfuller  sights  we  might  observe  Laun- 
ton  Oldaker  in  a  musty  curio-shop,  delighted  over 
a  pair  of  silver  candlesticks  with  square  bases  and 
fluted  columns,  fabricated  in  the  reign  of  that  for- 


162  THE    SPENDERS 

tuitous  monarch,  Charles  the  Second;  or  we  might 
glance  in  upon  the  Higbees  in  their  section  of  a 
French  chateau,  reproduced  up  on  the  stately  River 
side  Drive,  where  they  complete  the  details  of  a 
dinner  to  be  given  on  the  morrow. 

Or  perhaps  it  were  better  to  be  concerned  with 
a  matter  more  weighty  than  dinners  and  antique 
candlesticks.  The  search  need  never  be  vain,  even 
in  this  world  of  persistent  frivolity.  As,  for  ex 
ample  : 

"  Tell  Mrs.  Van  Geist  if  she  can't  come  down, 
I'll  run  up  to  her." 

"  Yes,  Miss  Milbrey." 

Mrs.  Van  Geist  entered  a  moment  later. 

"  Why,  Avice,  child,  you're  glowing,  aren't 
you?"  " 

"  I  must  be,  I  suppose  —  I've  just  walked  down 
from  59th  Street,  and  before  that  I  walked  in  the 
Park.  Feel  how  cold  my  cheeks  are,  —  Miitter- 
chen." 

"  It's  good  for  you.  Now  we  shall  have  some 
tea,  and  talk." 

"  Yes  —  I'm  hungry  for  both,  and  some  of  those 
funny  little  cakes." 

"  Come  back  where  the  fire  is,  dear ;  the  tea  has 
just  been  brought.  There,  take  the  big  chair." 

"  It  always  feels  like  you  —  like  your  arms,  Miit- 
terchen  —  and  I  am  tired." 

"  And  throw  off  that  coat.  There's  the  lemon, 
if  you're  afraid  of  cream." 

"  I  wish  I  weren't  afraid  of  anything  but  cream." 


THE    SPENDERS  163 

"  You  told  me  you  weren't  afraid  of  that  —  that 
cad  —  any  more." 

"  I'm  not  —  I  just  told  him  so.  But  I'm  afraid 
of  it  all ;  I'm  tired  trying  not  to  drift  —  tired  try 
ing  not  to  try,  and  tired  trying  to  try  —  Oh, 
dear  —  sounds  like  a  nonsense  verse,  doesn't  it  ? 
Have  you  any  one  to-night?  No?  I  think  I  must 
stay  with  you  till  morning.  Send  some  one  home 
to  say  I'll  be  here.  I  can  always  think  so  much 
better  here  —  and  you,  dear  old  thing,  to  mother 
me!  " 

"  Do,  child ;  I'll  send  Sandon  directly." 

"  He  will  go  to  the  house  of  mourning." 

"  What's  the  latest?  " 

"  Papa  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse  this  morn 
ing,  and  yet  he  was  striving  so  bravely  and  nobly 
to  bear  up.  No  one  knows  what  that  man  suffers; 
it  makes  him  gloomy  all  the  time  about  everything. 
Just  before  I  left,  he  was  saying  that,  when  one 
considers  the  number  of  American  homes  in  which 
a  green  salad  is  never  served,  one  must  be  appalled. 
Are  you  appalled,  auntie?  But  that  isn't  it." 

"Nothing  has  happened?" 

"  Well,  there'll  be  no  sensation  about  it  in  the 
papers  to-morrow,  but  a  very  dreadful  thing  has 
happened.  Papa  has  suffered  one  of  the  cruellest 
blows  of  his  life.  I  fancy  he  didn't  sleep  at  all  last 
night,  and  he  looked  thoroughly  bowled  over  this 
morning." 

"  But  what  is  it?  " 

"  Well  —  oh,  it's  awful !  —  first  of  all  there  were 


1 64  THE    SPENDERS 

six  dozen  of  early-bottled,  1875  Chateau  Lafitte  — 
that  was  the  bitterest  —  but  he  had  to  see  the  rest 
go,  too  —  Chateau  Margeaux  of  '80  —  some  terri 
bly  ancient  port  and  Madeira  —  the  dryest  kind  of 
sherry  —  a  lot  of  fine,  full  clarets  of  '77  and  '78  - 
oh,  you  can't  know  how  agonising  it  was  to  him  — 
I've  heard  them  so  often  I  know  them  all  myself." 

"  But  what  on  earth  about  them?  " 

"  Nothing,  only  the  Cosmopolitan  Club's  wine 
cellar  —  auctioned  off,  you  know.  For  over  a  year 
papa  has  looked  forward  to  it.  He  knew  every 
bottle  of  wine  in  it.  He  could  recite  the  list  without 
looking  at  it.  Sometimes  he  sounded  like  a  French 
lesson  —  and  he's  been  under  a  fearful  strain  ever 
since  the  announcement  was  made.  Well,  the  great 
day  came  yesterday,  and  poor  pater  simply  couldn't 
bid  in  a  single  drop.  It  needed  ready  money,  you 
know.  And  he  had  hoped  so  cheerfully  all  the 
time  to  do  something.  It  broke  his  heart,  I'm  sure, 
to  see  that  Chateau  Lafitte  go  —  and  only  imagine, 
it  was  bid  in  by  the  butler  of  that  odious  Higbee. 
You  should  have  heard  papa  rail  about  the  vulgar 
nouveaux  riches  when  he  came  home  —  he  talked 
quite  like  an  anarchist.  But  by  to-night  he'll  be 
blaming  me  for  his  misfortunes.  That's  why  I 
chose  to  stay  here  with  you." 

"  Poor  Horace.    Whatever  are  you  going  to  do  ?  " 

"Well,  dearie,  as  for  me,  it  doesn't  look  as  if 
I  could  do  anything  but  one  thing.  And  here  is 
my  ardent  young  Croesus  coming  out  of  the  West." 

"  You  called  him  your  '  athletic  Bayard  '  once." 


THE    SPENDERS  165 

"  The  other's  more  to  the  point  at  present.  Anc! 
what  else  can  [  do?  Oh,  if  some  one  would  just 
be  brave  enough  to  live  the  raw,  quivering  life 
with  me,  1  could  do  it,  I  give  you  my  word.  I 
could  let  everything  go  by  the  board  —  but  I  am 
so  alone  and  so  helpless  and  no  man  is  equal  to  it, 
nowadays.  All  of  us  here  seem  to  be  content  to 
order  a  '  half  portion  '  of  life." 

"  Child,  those  dreams  are  beautiful,  but  they're 
like  those  flying-machines  that  are  constantly  being 
tested  by  the  credulous  inventors.  A  wheel  or  a 
pinion  goes  wrong  and  down  the  silly  things  come 
tumbling." 

''Very  well;  then  I  shall  be  wise — I  suppose  I 
shall  be  —  and  I'll  do  it  quickly.  This  fortune  of 
good  gold  shall  propose  marriage  to  me  at  once, 
and  be  accepted  —  so  that  I  shall  be  able  to  look 
my  dear  old  father  in  the  face  again  —  and  then, 
after  I'm  married  —  well,  don't  blame  me  for  any 
thing  that  happens." 

''  I'm  sure  you'll  be  happy  with  him  —  it's  only 
your  silly  notions.  He's  in  love  with  you." 

'  That  makes  me  hesitate.  He  really  is  a  man  — 
I  like  him  —  see  this  letter  —  a  long  review  from 
the  Arcady  Lyre  of  the  '  poem  '  he  wrote,  a  poem 
consisting  of  '  Avice  Milbrey.'  The  reviewer  has 
been  quite  enthusiastic  over  it,  too,  —  written  from 
some  awful  place  in  Montana." 

"  What  more  could  you  ask?     He'll  be  kind." 

"  You  don't  understand,  Miitterchen.  He  seems 
too  decent  to  marry  that  way  —  and  yet  it's  the 


1 66  THE    SPENDERS 

only  way  I  could  marry  him.  And  after  he  found 
me  out  —  oh,  think  of  what  marriage  is  —  he'd 
have  to  find  it  out  —  1  couldn't  act  long  —  doubt 
less  he  wouldn't  even  be  kind  to  me  then." 

"  You  are  morbid,  child." 

"  But  I  will  do  it;  I  shall;  I  will  be  a  credit  to 
my  training  —  and  I  shall  learn  to  hate  him  and 
he  will  have  to  learn  —  well,  a  great  deal  that  he 
doesn't  know  about  women." 

She  stared  into  the  fire  and  added,  after  a  mo 
ment's  silence : 

"  Oh,  if  a  man  only  could  live  up  to  the  verses 
he  cuts  out  of  magazines !  " 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

With  t!ie  Barbaric  Hosts 

HISTORY  repeats  itself  so  cleverly,  with  a 
variance  of  stage-settings  and  accessories 
so  cunning,  that  the  repetition  seldom  bores, 
and  is,  indeed,  frequently  undetected.  Thus,  the 
descent  of  the  Barbarians  upon  a  decadent  people 
is  a  little  tour,  dc  force  that  has  been  performed 
again  and  again  since  the  oldest  day.  But  because 
the  assault  nowadays  is  made  not  with  force  of 
arms  we  are  prone  to  believe  it  is  no  longer  made 
at  all ;  —  as  if  human  ways  had  changed  a  bit 
since  those  ugly,  hairy  tribes  from  the  Northern 
forests  descended  upon  the  Roman  empire.  And 
yet  the  mere  difference  that  the  assault  is  now  made 
with  force  of  money  in  no  way  alters  the  process 
nor  does  it  permit  the  result  to  vary.  On  the 
surface  all  is  cordiality  and  peaceful  negotiation. 
Beneath  is  the  same  immemorial  strife,  the  life-and- 
death  struggle,  —  pitiless,  inexorable. 

What  would  have  been  a  hostile  bivouac  within 
the  city's  gates,  but  for  the  matter  of  a  few  cen 
turies,  is  now,  to  select  an  example  which  remotely 
concerns  us,  a  noble  structure  on  Riverside  Drive, 
facing  the  lordly  Hudson  and  the  majestic  Pali- 

167 


1 68  THE    SPENDERS 

sacles  that  form  its  farther  wall.  And.  for  the 
horde  of  Goths  and  Visigoths,  Huns  and  Vandals, 
drunkenly  reeling  in  the  fitful  light  of  camp-fires, 
chanting  weird  battle-runes,  fighting  for  captive 
vestals,  and  bickering  in  uncouth  tongues  over  the 
golden  spoils,  what  have  we  now  to  make  the  paral 
lel  convince  ?  Why,  the  same  Barbarians,  actually  ; 
the  same  hairy  rudeness,  the  same  unrefined,  all- 
conquering,  animal  force;  a  red-faced,  big-handed 
lot,  imbued  with  hearty  good  nature  and  an  easy 
tolerance  for  the  ways  of  those  upon  whom  they 
have  descended. 

Here  are  chiefs  of  renown  from  the  farthest  fast 
nesses  ;  they  and  their  curious  households :  the 
ironmonger  from  Pittsburg,  the  gold-miner  from 
Dawson,  the  copper  chief  from  Butte.  the  silver 
chief  from  Denver,  the  cattle  chief  from  Oklahoma, 
lord  of  three  hundred  thousand  good  acres  and 
thirty  thousand  cattle,  the  lumber  prince  from  Michi 
gan,  the  founder  of  a  later  dynasty  in  oil,  from 
Texas.  And,  for  the  unsesthetic  but  effective  Attila, 
an  able  fashioner  of  pork  products  from  Chicago. 

Here  they  make  festival,  carelessly,  unafraid, 
unmolested.  For,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  the  older 
peoples  have  learned  not  only  the  folly  of  resisting 
inevitables,  but  that  the  huge  and  hairy  invaders 
may  be  treated  and  bartered  with  not  unprofitably. 
Doubtless  it  often  results  from  this  amity  that  the 
patrician  strain  is  corrupted  by  the  alien  admixture, 
—  but  business  has  been  business  since  as  many  as 
two  persons  met  on  the  face  of  the  new  earth. 


THE    SPENDERS  169 

For  example,  this  particular  shelter  is  builded 
upon  land  which  one  of  the  patrician  families  had 
held  for  a  century  solely  because  it  could  not  be 
disposed  of.  Yet  the  tribesmen  came,  clamouring 
for  palaces,  and  now  this  same  land,  with  some 
adjoining  areas  of  trifling  extent,  produces  an 
income  that  will  suffice  to  maintain  that  family 
almost  in  its  ancient  and  befitting  estate. 

In  this  mammoth  pile,  for  the  petty  rental  of  ten 
or  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year,  many  tribes  of 
the  invaders  have  found  shelter  and  entertainment 
in  apartments  of  many  rooms.  Outwardly,  in 
details  of  ornamentation,  the  building  is  said  to 
duplicate  the  Chateaux  Blois,  those  splendid  palaces 
of  Francis  I.  Inside  are  all  the  line  and  colour  and 
device  of  elegant  opulence,  modern  to  the  last  note. 

To  this  palace  of  an  October  evening  comes  the 
tribe  of  Bines,  and  many  another  such,  for  a  tri 
umphal  feast  in  the  abode  of  Barbarian  Silas 
Higbee.  The  carriages  pass  through  a  pair  of 
lordly  iron  gates,  swung  from  massive  stone  pillars, 
under  an  arch  of  wrought  iron  with  its  antique 
lamp,  and  into  the  echoing  courtyard  flanked  by 
trim  hedges  of  box. 

Alighting,  the  barbaric  guests  of  Higbee  are 
ushered  through  a  marble-walled  vestibule,  from 
which  a  \vrought-iron  and  bronze  screen  gives 
way  to  the  main  entrance-hall.  The  ceiling  here 
reproduces  that  of  a  feudal  castle  in  Rouen,  with 
some  trifling  and  effective  touches  of  decoration  in 
blue,  scarlet,  and  gold.  The  walls  are  of  white 


I  yo  THE    SPENDERS 

Caen  stone,  with  ornate  windows  and  balconies 
jutting  out  above.  In  one  corner  is  a  stately  stone 
mantel  with  richly  carved  hood,  bearing  in  its  central 
panel  the  escutcheon  of  the  gallant  French  monarch. 
Up  a  little  flight  of  marble  steps,  guarded  by  its 
hand-rail  of  heavy  metal,  shod  with  crimson  velvet, 
one  reaches  the  elevator.  This  pretty  enclosure  of 
iron  and  glass,  of  classic  detail  in  the  period  of 
Henry  II.,  of  Circassian  walnut  trim,  with  crotch 
panels,  has  more  the  aspect  of  boudoir  than  ele 
vator.  The  deep  seat  is  of  walnut,  upholstered 
with  fat  cushions  of  crimson  velvet  edged  in  dull 
gold  galloon.  Over  the  seat  is  a  mirror  cut  into 
small  squares  by  wooden  muntins.  At  each  side 
are  electric  candles  softened  by  red  silk  shades. 
One's  last  view  before  the  door  closes  noiselessly 
is  of  a  bay-window  opposite,  set  with  cathedral 
glass  casement-lights,  which  sheds  soft  colours  upon 
the  hall-bench  of  carven  stone  and  upon  the  tessel 
lated  floor. 

The  door  to  the  Higbee  domain  is  of  polished 
mahogany,  set  between  lights  of  antique  verte 
Italian  glass,  and  bearing  an  ancient  brass  knocker. 
From  the  reception-room,  with  its  walls  of  green 
empire  silk,  one  passes  through  a  foyer  hall,  of 
Cordova  leather  hangings,  to  the  drawing-room 
with  its  three  broad  windows.  Opposite  the  en 
trance  to  this  superb  room  is  a  mantel  of  carved 
Caen  stone,  faced  with  golden  Pavanazza  marble, 
with  old  Roman  andirons  of  gold  ending  in  the 
fleur-de-lis.  The  walls  are  hung  with  blue  Floren- 


THE    SPENDERS  171 

tine  silk,  embossed  in  silver.  Beyond  a  bronze 
grill  is  the  music-room,  a  library  done  in  Austrian 
oak  with  stained  burlap  panelled  by  dull-forged 
nails,  a  conservatory,  a  billiard-room,  a  smoking- 
room.  This  latter  has  walls  of  red  damask  and 
a  mantel  with  "  Post  Tenebras  Lux"  cut  into  one 
of  its  marble  panels,  —  a  legend  at  which  the 
worthy  lessee  of  all  this  splendour  is  wont  often  to 
glance  with  respectful  interest. 

The  admirable  host  —  if  one  be  broad-minded  - 
is  now  in  the  drawing-room,  seconding  his  worthy 
wife  and  pretty  daughter  who  welcome  the  dinner- 
guests. 

For  a  man  who  has  a  fad  for  ham  and  doesn't 
care  who  knows  it,  his  bearing  is  all  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  that  it  should  be.  Among  the  group 
of  arrivals,  men  of  his  own  sort,  he  is  speaking  of 
the  ever-shifting  fashion  in  beards,  to  the  evangel 
of  a  Texas  oil-field  who  flaunts  to  the  world  one  of 
those  heavy  moustaches  spuriously  extended  below 
the  corners  of  the  mouth  by  means  of  the  chin- 
growth  of  hair.  Another,  a  worthy  tribesman 
from  Snohomish,  Washington,  wears  a  beard  which, 
for  a  score  of  years,  has  been  let  to  be  its  own  true 
self;  to  express,  fearlessly,  its  own  unique  capacity 
for  variation  from  type.  These  twro  have  rallied 
their  host  upon  his  modishly  trimmed  side-whiskers. 

"  You're  right,"  says  Mr.   Higbee,  amiably,  "  I 

ain't  stuck  any  myself  on  this  way  of  trimming  up 

a  man's  face,  but  the  madam  will  have  it  this  way 

-  says  it  looks  more  refined  and  New  Yorky.    And 


172  THE    SPENDERS 

now,  do  you  know,  ever  since  I've  wore  'em  this 
way  —  ever  since  I  had  'em  scraped  from  around 
under  my  neck  here  —  I  have  to  go  to  Florida 
every  winter.  Come  January  or  February,  I  get 
bronchitis  every  blamed  year !  " 

Two  of  the  guests  only  are  alien  to  the  barbaric 
throng. 

There  is  the  noble  Baron  Renault  de  Palliac, 
decorated,  reserved,  observant,  —  almost  wistful. 
For  the  moment  he  is  picturing  dutifully  the  lux 
uries  a  certain  marriage  would  enable  him  to  pro 
cure  for  his  noble  father  and  his  aged  mother,  who 
eagerly  await  the  news  of  his  quest  for  the  golden 
fleece.  For  the  baron  contemplates,  after  the  fash 
ion  of  many  conscientious  explorers,  a  marriage 
with  a  native  woman;  though  he  permits  himself 
to  cherish  the  hope  that  it  may  not  be  conditioned 
upon  his  adopting  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
particular  tribe  that  he  means  to  honour.  Monsieur 
the  Baron  has  long  since  been  obliged  to  confess 
that  a  suitable  mesalliance  is  none  too  easy  of 
achievement,  and,  in  testimony  of  his  vicissitudes, 
he  has  written  for  a  Paris  comic  paper  a  series 
of  grimly  satiric  essays  upon  New  York  society. 
Recently,  moreover,  he  has  been  upon  the  verge  of 
accepting  employment  in  the  candy  factory  of  a 
bourgeois  compatriot.  But  hope  has  a  little  revived 
in  the  noble  breast  since  chance  brought  him  and 
his  title  under  the  scrutiny  of  the  bewitching  Miss 
Millicent  Higbee  and  her  appreciative  mother. 

And  to-night  there  is  not  only  the  pretty  Miss 


THE    SPENDERS  173 

Higbee,  but  the  winning  Miss  Bines,  whose  dot,  the 
baron  has  been  led  to  understand,  would  permit 
his  beloved  father  unlimited  piquet  at  his  club,  to 
say  nothing  of  regenerating  the  family  chateau. 
Yet  these  are  hardly  matters  to  be  gossiped  of.  It 
is  enough  to  know  that  the  Baron  Renault  de 
Palliac  when  he  discovers  himself  at  table  between 
Miss  Bines  and  the  adorable  Miss  Higbee,  becomes 
less  saturnine  than  has  for  some  time  been  his  wont. 
He  does  not  forget  previous  disappointments,  but 
desperately  snaps  his  swarthy  jaws  in  commendable 
superiority  to  any  adverse  fate. 

"  Jc  iic  donne  pas  un  damn,"  he  says  to  himself, 
and  translates,  as  was  his  practice,  to  better  his 
English  —  "I  do  not  present  a  damn.  I  shall  take 
what  it  is  that  it  may  be." 

The  noble  Baron  de  Palliac  at  this  feast  of  the 
tribesmen  was  like  the  captive  patrician  of  old  led 
in  chains  that  galled.  The  other  alien,  Launton 
Oldaker,  was  present  under  terms  of  honourable 
truce,  willingly  and  without  ulterior  motive  saving 
—  as  he  confessed  to  himself  —  a  consuming  desire 
to  see  "  how  the  other  half  lives."  He  was  no 
longer  the  hunted  and  dismayed  being  Percival  had 
met  in  that  far-off  and  impossible  Montana ;  but  was 
now  untroubled,  remembering,  it  is  true,  that  this 
"  slumming  expedition,"  as  he  termed  it,  had  taken 
him  beyond  the  recognised  bounds  of  his  beloved 
New  York,  but  serene  in  the  consciousness  that 
half  an  hour's  drive  would  land  him  safely  back 
at  his  club. 


174  THE    SPENDERS 

Oldaker  observed  Miss  Psyche  Bines  approvingly. 

"  We  are  so  glad  to  be  in  New  York !  "  she  had 
confided  to  him,  sitting  at  her  right. 

"  My  dear  young  woman,"  he  warned  her,  "  you 
haven't  reached  New  York  yet.''  The  talk  being 
general  and  loud,  he  ventured  further. 

"  This  is  Pittsburg,  Chicago,  Kansas  City, 
Denver  —  almost  anything  but  New  York." 

"  Of  course  I  know  these  are  not  the  swell  old 
families." 

Oldaker  sipped  his  glass  of  old  Oloroso  sherry 
and  discoursed. 

"  And  our  prominent  families,  the  ones  whose 
names  you  read,  are  not  New  York  any  more, 
either.  They  are  rather  London  and  Paris.  Their 
furniture,  clothing,  plate,  pictures,  and  servants 
come  from  one  or  the  other.  Yes,  and  their  man 
ners,  too,  their  interests  and  sympathies  and  con 
cerns,  their  fashions  —  and  —  sometimes,  their  — 
er  —  morals.  They  are  assuredly  not  New  York 
any  more  than  Gobelin  tapestries  and  Fortuny  pic 
tures  and  Louis  Seize  chairs  are  New  York." 

"  How  queerly  you  talk.  Where  is  New  York, 
then?" 

Oldaker  sighed  thoughtfully  between  two  spoon 
fuls  of  tortue  verte,  claire. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  the  truth  is  that  there  isn't 
much  of  New  York  left  in  New  York.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  I  think  it  died  with  the  old  Volunteer  Fire 
Department.  Anyway  the  surviving  remnant  is 
coy.  Real  old  New  Yorkers  like  myself  —  neither 


THE    SPENDERS  175 

poor  nor  rich  —  are  swamped  in  these  days  like 
those  prehistoric  animals  whose  bones  we  find. 
There  comes  a  time  when  we  can't  live,  and  deposits 
form  over  us  and  we're  lost  even  to  memory." 

But  this  talk  was  even  harder  for  Miss  Bines  to 
understand  than  the  English  speech  of  the  Baron 
Renault  de  Palliac,  and  she  turned  to  that  noble 
gentleman  as  the  turbot  with  sauce  Corail  was 
served. 

The  dining-room,  its  wall  wainscotted  from 
iloor  to  ceiling  in  Spanish  oak,  was  flooded  with 
soft  light  from  the  red  silk  dome  that  depended 
from  its  crown  of  gold  above  the  table.  The  laugh 
ter  and  talk  were  as  little  subdued  as  the  scheme 
of  the  rooms.  It  was  an  atmosphere  of  prodigal 
and  confident  opulence.  From  the  music-room  near 
by  came  the  soft  strains  of  a  Haydn  quartet,  exquis 
itely  performed  by  finished  and  expensive  artists. 

"  Say,  Higbee!  "  it  was  the  oil  chief  from  Texas, 
"  see  if  them  fiddlers  of  yours  can't  play  '  Ma 
Honolulu  Lulu !  ' 

Oldaker,  wincing  and  turning  to  Miss  Bines  for 
sympathy,  heard  her  say : 

"  Yes,  do,  Mr.  Higbee !  I  do  love  those  rag 
time  songs  —  and  then  have  them  play  '  Tell  Me, 
Pretty  Maiden/  and  the  '  Intermezzo.'  ' 

He  groaned  in   anguish. 

The  talk  ran  mostly  on  practical  affairs :  the 
current  values  of  the  great  staple  commodities; 
why  the  corn  crop  had  been  light;  what  wheat 
promised  to  bring;  how  young  Burman  of  the 


1 76  THE    SPENDERS 

Chicago  Board  of  Trade  had  been  pinched  in  his 
own  wheat  corner  for  four  millions  —  "put  up" 
by  his  admiring  father;  what  beef  on  the  hoof 
commanded;  how  the  Federal  Oil  Company  would 
presently  own  the  State  of  Texas. 

Almost  every  Barbarian  at  the  table  had  made 
his  own  fortune.  Hardly  one  but  could  recall 
early  days  when  he  toiled  on  farm  or  in  shop  or 
forest,  herded  cattle,  prospected,  sought  adventure 
in  remote  and  hazardous  wilds. 

"  'Tain't  much  like  them  old  days,  eh,  Higbee?  " 
queried  the  Crown  Prince  of  Cripple  Creek—  "when 
you  and  me  had  to  walk  from  Chicago  to  Green 
Bay,  Wisconsin,  because  we  didn't  have  enough 
shillings  for  stage- f are  ?"  He  gazed  about  him 
suggestively. 

"  Corn-beef  and  cabbage  was  pretty  good  then, 
eh?  "and  with  sure,  vigorous  strokes  he  fell  to 
demolishing  his  filet  dc  dindc  a  la  Perigueux,  while 
a  butler  refilled  his  glass  with  Chateau  Malescot, 
1878. 

"  Well,  it  does  beat  the  two  rooms  the  madam 
and  me  started  to  keep  house  in  when  we  was 
married,"  admitted  the  host.  "  That  was  on  the 
banks  of  the  Chicago  River,  and  now  we  got  the 
Hudson  flowin'  right  through  the  front  yard,  you 
might  say,  right  past  our  own  yacht-landing." 

From  old  clays  of  work  and  hardship  they  came 
to  discuss  the  present  and  their  immediate  sur 
roundings,  social  and  financial. 

Their  daughters,  it  appeared,  were  being  sought 


THE    SPENDERS  177 

in  marriage  by  the  sons  of  those  among  whom  they 
sojourned. 

"  Oh,  they're  a  nice  band  of  hand-shakers,  all 
right,  all  right,"  asserted  the  gentleman  from  Kansas 
City.  "  One  of  'em  tried  to  keep  company  with 
our  Caroline,  but  1  wouldn't  stand  for  it.  He  was 
a  crackin'  good  shinny  player,  and  he  could  lead  them 
cotillion-dances  blowin'  a  whistle  and  callin',  '  All 
right,  Up !  '  or  something,  like  a  car-starter,  - 
but,  '  Tell  me  something  good  about  him,'  I  says 
to  an  old  friend  of  his  family.  Well,  he  hemmed 
and  hawed  —  he  was  a  New  York  gentleman,  and 
says  he,  '  I  don't  know  whether  I  could  make  you 
understand  or  not,'  he  says,  '  but  he's  got  Family,' 
jest  like  that,  bearin'  down  hard  on  '  Family  ' 
'  and  you've  got  money,'  he  says,  '  and  Money  and 
Family  need  each  other  badly  in  this  town,'  he  says. 
1  Yes,'  says  I,  '  I  met  up  with  a  number  of  people 
here,'  I  says,  '  but  I  ain't  met  none  yet  that  you'd 
have  to  blindfold  and  back  into  a  lot  of  money,'  I 
says,  '  family  or  no  family,'  I  says.  '  And  that 
young  man,'  he  says,  '  is  a  pleasant,  charming 
fellow ;  why,'  he  says,  '  he's  the  best-coated  man  in 
New  York.'  Well,  I  looked  at  him  and  I  says, 
'  Well,'  says  I,  '  he  may  be  the  best-coated  man  in 
New  York,  but  he'll  be  the  best-booted  man  in  New 
York,  too,'  I  says,  '  if  he  comes  around  trying  to 
spark  Caroline  any  more,  —  or  would  be  if  I  had 
my  way.  His  chin's  pushed  too  far  back  under 
his  face,'  I  says,  '  and  besides,'  I  says,  '  Caroline  is 
being  waited  on  by  a  young  hardware  drummer, 


iy8  THE    SPENDERS 

a  good  steady  young  fellow  travelling  out  of  little 
old  K.  C.,'  I  says,  '  and  while  he  ain't  much  for 
fam'ly/  I  says,  '  he'll  have  one  of  his  own  before 
he  gets  through/  I  says ;  '  we  start  fam'lies  where 
i  come  from/  I  says." 

"Good  boy!  Good  for  you,"  cheered  the  self- 
made  Barbarians,  and  drank  success  to  the  absent 
disseminator  of  hardware. 

With  much  loud  talk  of  this  unedifying  character 
the  dinner  progressed  to  an  end;  through  sclle 
d'agnean,  floated  in  '84  champagne,  terrapin  con 
voyed  by  a  special  Madeira  of  1850,  and  canvas- 
back  duck  with  Romance  Conti,  1865,  to  a  tri 
umphant  finale  of  Turkish  coffee  and  1811  brandy. 

After  dinner  the  ladies  gossiped  of  New  York 
society,  while  the  barbaric  males  smoked  their  big 
oily  cigars  and  bandied  reminiscences.  Higbee 
showed  them  through  every  one  of  the  apartment's 
twenty-two  rooms,  from  reception-hall  to  laundry, 
manipulating  the  electric  lights  with  the  skill  of  a 
stage-manager. 

The  evening  ended  with  a  cake-walk,  for  the 
musical  artists  had  by  rare  wines  been  mellowed 
from  their  classic  reserve  into  a  mood  of  rag-time 
abandon.  And  if  Monsieur  the  Baron  with  his 
ceremonious  grace  was  less  exuberant  than  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Cripple  Creek,  who  sang  as  he 
stepped  the  sensuous  measure,  his  pleasure  was  not 
less.  He  joyed  to  observe  that  these  men  of  incredi 
ble  millions  had  no  hauteur. 

"  I  do  not,"  wrote  the  baron  to  his  noble  father 


THE    SPENDERS  179 

the  marquis,  that  night,  "  yet  understand  their 
joke ;  why  should  it  be  droll  to  wish  that  the  man 
whose  coat  is  of  the  best  should  also  wear  boots 
of  the  best  ?  but  as  for  what  they  call  une  promenade 
dc  gateau,  I  find  it  very  enjoyable.  I  have  met  a 
Mile.  Bines  to  whom  I  shall  at  once  pay  my  ad 
dresses.  Unlike  Mile.  Higbee,  she  has  not  the 
father  from  Chicago  nor  elsewhere.  Quel  diablc 
d'homme! " 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

The  Patricians  Entertain 

TO  reward  the  enduring  who  read  politely 
through  the  garish  revel  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  covers  for  fourteen  are  now  laid 
with  correct  and  tasteful  quietness  at  the  sophisti 
cated  board  of  that  fine  old  New  York  family,  the 
Milbreys.  Shaded  candles  leave  all  but  the  glowing 
table  in  a  gloom  discreetly  pleasant.  One  need  not 
look  so  high  as  the  old-fashioned  stuccoed  ceiling. 
The  family  portraits  tone  agreeably  into  the  half- 
light  of  the  walls;  the  huge  old-fashioned  walnut 
sideboard,  soberly  ornate  with  its  mirrors,  its 
white  marble  top  and  its  wood-carved  fruit,  towers 
majestically  aloft  in  proud  scorn  of  the  frivolous 
Chippendale  fad. 

Jarvis,  the  accomplished  and  incomparable  butler, 
would  be  subdued  and  scholarly  looking  but  for  the 
flagrant  scandal  of  his  port-wine  nose.  He  gives 
finishing  little  fillips  to  the  white  chrysanthemums 
massed  in  the  central  epergne  on  the  long  silver 
plateau,  and  bestows  a  last  cautious  survey  upon  the 
cut-glass  and  silver  radiating  over  the  dull  white 
damask.  Finding  the  table  and  its  appointments 

1 80 


THE    SPENDERS  181 

faultless,  he  assures  himself  once  more  that  the 
sherry  will  come  on  irreproachably  at  a  temperature 
of  60  degrees ;  that  the  Burgundy  will  not  fall 
below  65  nor  mount  above  70;  for  Jarvis  wots  of 
a  palate  so  acutely  sensitive  that  it  never  fails  to 
record  a  variation  of  so  much  as  one  degree  from 
the  approved  standard  of  temperature. 

How  restful  this  quiet  and  reserve  after  the 
colour  and  line  tumult  of  the  Higbee  apartment. 
There  the  flush  and  bloom  of  newness  were  oppres 
sive  to  the  right-minded.  All  smelt  of  the  shop. 
Here  the  dull  tones  and  decorous  lines  caress  and 
soothe  instead  of  overwhelming  the  imagination 
with  effects  too  grossly  literal.  Here  is  the  veri 
table  spirit  of  good  form. 

Throughout  the  house  this  contrast  might  be 
noted.  It  is  the  brown-stone,  high-stoop  house, 
guarded  by  a  cast-iron  fence,  built  in  vast  numbers 
when  the  world  of  fashion  moved  North  to  Murray 
Hill  and  Fifth  Avenue  a  generation  ago.  One  of 
these  houses  was  like  all  the  others  inside  and  out, 
built  of  unimaginative  "  builder's  architecture." 
The  hall,  the  long  parlour,  the  back  parlour  or 
library,  the  high  stuccoed  ceilings  —  not  only  were 
these  alike  in  all  the  houses,  but  the  furnishings, 
too,  were  apt  to  be  of  a  sameness  in  them  all, 
rather  heavy  and  tasteless,  but  serving  the  ends 
that  such  things  should  be  meant  to  serve,  and 
never  flamboyant.  Of  these  relics  of  a  simpler 
day  not  many  survive  to  us,  save  in  the  shameful 
degeneracy  of  boarding-houses.  But  in  such  as 


1 82  THE    SPENDERS 

are  left,  we  may  confidently  expect  to  find  the  tra 
ditions  of  that  more  dignified  time  kept  unsullied; 
—  to  find,  indeed,  as  we  find  in  the  house  of  Mil- 
brey,  a  settled  air  of  gloom  that  suggests  insolvent 
but  stubbornly  determined  exclusiveness. 

Something  of  this  air,  too,  may  be  noticed  in 
the  surviving  tenants  of  these  austere  relics.  Yet 
it  would  hardly  be  observed  in  this  house  on 
this  night,  for  not  only  do  arriving  guests  bring  the 
aroma  of  a  later  prosperity,  but  the  hearts  of  our 
host  and  hostess  beat  high  with  a  new  hope.  For 
the  fair  and  sometimes  uncertain  daughter  of  the 
house  of  Milbrey,  after  many  ominous  mutterings, 
delays,  and  frank  rebellions,  has  declared  at  last 
her  readiness  to  be  a  credit  to  her  training  by  con 
ferring  her  family  prestige,  distinction  of  manner 
and  charms  of  person  upon  one  equipped  for  their 
suitable  maintenance. 

Already  her  imaginative  father  is  ravishing  in 
fancy  the  mouldiest  wine-cellars  of  Continental 
Europe.  Already  the  fond  mother  has  i'dealised  a 
house  in  "  Millionaire's  Row  ''  east  of  the  Park, 
where  there  shall  be  twenty  servants  instead  of 
three,  and  there  shall  cease  that  gnawing  worry  lest 
the  treacherous  north-setting  current  sweep  them 
west  of  the  Park  into  one  of  those  hideously  new 
apartment  houses,  where  the  halls  are  done  in  marble 
that  seems  to  have  been  sliced  from  a  huge  Roque 
fort  cheese,  and  where  one  must  vie,  perhaps,  with 
a  shop-keeper  for  the  favours  of  an  irreverent  and 
materialistic  janitor. 


THE    SPENDERS  183 

The  young-  woman  herself  entertains  privately  a 
state  of  mind  which  she  has  no  intention  of  making 
public.  It  is  enough,  she  reasons,  that  her  action 
should  outwardly  accord  with  the  best  traditions 
of  her  class ;  and,  indeed,  her  family  w^ould  never 
dream  of  demanding  more. 

Her  gown  to-night  is  of  orchard  green,  trimmed 
with  apple-blossoms,  a  single  pink  spray  of  them 
caught  in  her  hair.  The  rounding,  satin  grace  of 
her  slender  arms,  sloping  to  the  opal-tipped  fingers, 
the  exquisite  line  from  ear  to  shoulder  strap,  the 
melting  ripeness  of  her  chin  and  throat,  the  tender 
pink  and  white  of  her  fine  skin,  the  capricious,  incit 
ing  tilt  of  her  small  head,  the  dainty  lift  of  her 
short  nose,  —  these  allurements  she  has  inventoried 
with  a  calculating  and  satisfied  eye.  She  is  glad 
to  believe  that  there  is  every  reason  why  it  will 
soon  be  over. 

And,  since  the  whole  loaf  is  notoriously  better 
than  a  half,  here  is  the  engaging  son  of  the  house, 
also  firmly  bent  upon  the  high  emprise  of  matri 
mony;  handsome,  with  the  chin,  it  may  be,  slightly 
receding;  but  an  unexcelled  leader  of  cotillions,  a 
surpassing  polo-player,  clever,  winning,  and  dressed 
with  an  effect  that  has  long  made  him  remarked  in 
polite  circles,  which  no  mere  money  can  achieve. 
Money,  indeed,  if  certain  ill-natured  gossip  of  trades 
men  be  true,  has  been  an  inconsiderable  factor  in 
the  encompassment  of  this  sartorial  distinction.  He 
waits  now,  eager  for  a  first  glimpse  of  the  young 
woman  whose  charms,  even  by  report,  have  already 


1 84  THE    SPENDERS 

won  the  best  devotion  he  has  to  give.  A  grievous 
error  it  is  to  suppose  that  Cupid's  artillery  is  limited 
to  bow  and  arrows. 

And  now,  instead  of  the  rude  commercial  horde 
that  laughed  loudly  and  ate  uncouthly  at  the  board 
of  the  Barbarian,  we  shall  sit  at  table  with  people 
born  to  the  only  manner  said  to  be  worth  possess 
ing; —  if  we  except,  indeed,  the  visiting  tribe  of 
Bines,  who  may  be  relied  upon,  however,  to  behave 
at  least  unobtrusively. 

As  a  contrast  to  the  oppressively  Western  matron 
from  Kansas  City,  here  is  Mistress  Fidelia  Oldaker 
on  the  arm  of  her  attentive  son.  She  would  be 
very  old  but  for  the  circumstance  that  she  began 
early  in  life  to  be  a  belle,  and  age  cannot  stale 
such  women.  Brought  up  with  board  at  her  back, 
books  on  her  head,  to  guard  her  complexion  as  if  it 
were  her  fair  name,  to  be  diligent  at  harp  practice 
and  conscientious  with  the  dancing-master,  she  is 
almost  the  last  of  a  school  that  nursed  but  the  single 
aim  of  subjugating  man.  To-night,  at  seventy- 
something,  she  is  a  bit  of  pink  bisque  fragility, 
bubbling  tirelessly  with  reminiscence,  her  vivacity 
unimpaired,  her  energy  amazing,  and  her  coquetry 
faultless.  From  which  we  should  learn,  and  be 
grateful  therefor,  that  when  a  girl  is  brought  up  in 
the  way  she  ought  to  go  she  will  never  be  able  to 
depart  from  it. 

Here  also  is  Cornelia  Van  Geist,  sister  of  our 
admirable  hostess  —  relict  of  a  gentleman  who  had 
been  first  or  second  cousin  to  half  the  people  in 


THE    SPENDERS  185 

society  it  were  really  desirable  to  know,  and  whose 
taste  in  wines,  dinners,  and  sports  had  been  widely 
praised  at  his  death  by  those  who  had  had  the 
fortune  to  be  numbered  among  his  friends.  Mrs. 
Van  Geist  has  a  kind,  shrewd  face,  and  her  hair, 
which  turned  prematurely  grey  while  she  was  yet 
a  wife,  gives  her  a  look  of  age  that  her  actual  years 
belie. 

Here,  too,  is  Rulon  Shepler,  the  money-god,  his 
large,  round  head  turning  upon  his  immense  shoul 
ders  without  the  aid  of  a  neck  —  sharp-eyed,  griz 
zled,  fifty,  short  of  stature,  and  with  as  few  illusions 
concerning  life  as  the  New  York  financier  is  apt  to 
retain  at  his  age. 

If  we  be  forced  to  wait  for  another  guest  of 
note,  it  is  hardly  more  than  her  due;  for  Mrs. 
Gwilt-Athelstan  is  truly  a  personage,  and  the  best 
people  on  more  than  one  continent  do  not  become 
unduly  provoked  at  being  made  to  wait  for  her. 
Those  less  than  the  very  best  frankly  esteem  it 
a  privilege.  Yet  the  great  lady  is  not  careless  of 
engagements,  and  the  wait  is  never  prolonged.  Mrs. 
Milbrey  has  time  to  say  to  her  sister,  "  Yes,  we 
think  it's  going;  and  really,  it  will  do  very  well, 
you  know.  The  girl  has  had  some  nonsense  in 
her  mind  for  a  year  past  —  none  of  us  can  tell 
what  —  but  now  she  seems  actually  sensible,  and 
she's  promised  to  accept  when  the  chap  proposes." 
But  there  is  time  for  no  more  gossip. 

The  belated  guest  arrives,  enveloped  in  a  vast 
cloak,  and  accompanied  by  her  two  nephews,  whom 


1 86  THE    SPENDERS 

Percival  Bines  recognises  for  the  solemn  and  taci 
turn  young  men  he  had  met  in  Shepler's  party  at 
the  mine. 

Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan,  albeit  a  decorative  per 
sonality,  is  constructed  on  the  same  broad  and  gen 
erously  graceful  lines  as  her  own  victoria.  The 
great  lady  has  not  only  two  chins,  but  what  any 
fair-minded  observer  would  accept  as  sufficient 
promise  of  a  good  third.  Yet  hardly  could  a 
slighter  person  display  to  advantage  the  famous 
Gwilt-Athelstan  jewels.  The  rope  of  pierced  dia 
monds  with  pigeon-blood  rubies  strung  between 
them,  which  she  wears  wound  over  her  corsage, 
would  assuredly  overweight  the  frail  Fidelia  Old- 
aker;  the  tiara  of  emeralds  and  diamonds  was 
never  meant  for  a  brow  less  majestic:  nor  would 
the  stomacher  of  lustrous  grey  pearls  and  glinting 
diamonds  ever  have  clasped  becomingly  a  figure 
that  was  svelte  —  or  "  skinny,"  as  the  great  lady 
herself  is  frank  enough  to  term  all  persons  even 
remotely  inclined  to  be  svelte. 

But  let  us  sit  and  enliven  a  proper  dinner  with 
talk  upon  topics  of  legitimate  interest  and  genuine 
propriety. 

Here  will  be  no  discussion  of  the  vulgar  matter 
of  markets,  staples,  and  prices,  such  as  we  per 
force  endured  through  the  overwined  and  too- 
abundant  repast  of  Higbee.  Instead  of  learning 
what  beef  on  the  hoof  brings  per  hundred-weight, 
f.  o.  b.  at  Cheyenne,  we  shall  here  glean  at  once  the 
invaluable  fact  that  while  good  society  in  London 


THE    SPENDERS  187 

used  to  be  limited  to  those  who  had  been  presented 
at  court,  the  presentations  have  now  become  so 
numerous  that  the  limitation  has  lost  its  signifi 
cance.  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  thus  discloses,  as  if 
it  were  a  trifle,  something  we  should  never  learn 
at  the  table  of  Higbee  though  we  ate  his  heavy 
dinners  to  the  day  of  ultimate  chaos.  And  while 
we  learned  at  that  distressingly  new  table  that  one 
should  keep  one's  heifers  and  sell  off  one's  steer 
calves,  we  never  should  have  been  informed  there 
that  Dinard  had  just  enjoyed  the  gayest  season  of 
its  history  under  the  patronage  of  this  enterprising 
American ;  nor  that  Lady  de  Muzzy  had  opened  a 
tea-room  in  Grafton  Street,  and  Cynthia,  Mar 
chioness  of  Angleberry,  a  beauty-improvement  par 
lour  on  the  Strand  "  because  she  needs  the  money." 

"Lots  of  'em  takin'  to  trade  nowadays;  it's  a 
smart  savin'  there  now  that  all  the  peers  are  marryin' 
actresses  and  all  the  peeresses  goin'  into  busi 
ness."  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  nodded  little  shocks 
of  brilliance  from  her  tiara  and  hungrily  speared 
another  oyster. 

"  Only  trouble  is,  it's  such  rotten  hard  work  col- 
lectin'  bills  from  their  intimate  friends ;  they  simply 
won't  pay." 

Nor  at  the  barbaric  Higbee's  should  we  have 
been  vouchsafed,  to  treasure  for  our  own,  the 
knowledge  that  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  had  merely 
run  over  for  the  cup-fortnight,  meaning  to  return 
directly  to  her  daughter,  Katharine,  Duchess  of 
Blanchmere,  in  time  for  the  Melton  Mowbray 


1 88  THE    SPENDERS 

hunting-season;  nor  that  she  had  been  rather 
taken  by  the  new  way  of  country  life  among  us, 
and  so  tempted  to  protract  her  gracious  sojourn. 

"  Really,"  she  admits,  "  we're  comin'  to  do  the 
right  thing  over  here;  a  few  years  were  all  we 
needed.  Hardly  a  town-house  to  be  opened  before 
Thanksgivin',  I  understand ;  and  down  at  the  Hills 
some  of  the  houses  will  stay  open  all  winter.  It's 
coachin',  ridin',  and  golf  and  auto-racin'  and  polo 
and  squash;  really  the  young  folks  don't  go  in  at 
all  except  to  dance  and  eat;  and  it's  quite  right, 
you  know.  It's  quite  decently  English,  now.  Why, 
at  Morris  Park  the  other  day,  the  crowd  on  the 
lawn  looked  quite  like  Ascot,  actually." 

Nor  could  we  have  learned  in  the  hostile  camp 
the  current  gossip  of  Tuxedo,  Meadowbrook,  Lenox, 
Morristown,  and  Ardsley;  of  the  mishap  to  Mrs. 
"  Jimmie "  Whettin,  twice  unseated  at  a  recent 
meet;  of  the  woman's  championship  tournament  at 
Chatsworth;  or  the  good  points  of  the  new 
runner-up  at  Baltusrol,  daily  to  be  seen  on  the  links. 
Where  we  might  incur  knowledge  of  Beaumont 
"  gusher  "  or  Pittsburg  mill  we  should  never  have 
discovered  that  teas  and  receptions  are  really  falling 
into  disrepute ;  that  a  series  of  dinner-dances  will 
be  organised  by  the  mothers  of  debutantes  to  bring 
them  forward;  and  that  big  subscription  balls  are 
in  disfavour,  since  they  benefit  no  one  but  the  cater 
ers  who  serve  poor  suppers  and  bad  champagne. 

Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  takes  only  Scotch  whiskey 
and  soda. 


THE    SPENDERS  189 

"  But  I'm  glad,"  she  confides  to  Horace  Milbrey 
on  her  left,  "  that  you  haven't  got  to  followin'  this 
fad  of  havin'  one  wine  at  dinner ;  I  know  it's  Eng 
lish,  but  it's  downright  shoddy." 

Her  host's  eyes  swam  with  gratitude  for  this 
appreciation. 

"  I  stick  to  my  peg,"  she  continued ;  "  but  I  like 
to  see  a  Chablis  with  the  oysters  and  good  dry  sherry 
with  the  soup,  and  a  Moselle  with  the  fish,  and 
then  you're  ready  to  be  livened  with  a  bit  of  cham 
pagne  for  the  roast,  and  steadied  a  bit  by  Burgundy 
with  the  game.  Phim  sticks  to  it,  too;  tells  me 
my  peg  is  downright  encouragement  to  the  bacteria. 
But  I  tell  him  I've  no  quarrel  with  my  bacteria. 
'  Live  and  let  live  '  is  my  motto,  I  tell  him,  —  and 
if  the  microbes  and  I  both  like  Scotch  and  soda, 
why,  what  harm.  I'm  forty-two  and  not  so  much 
of  a  fool  that  I  ain't  a  little  bit  of  a  physician.  I 
know  my  stomach,  I  tell  him." 

"  What  about  these  Western  people?  "  she  asked 
Oldaker  at  her  other  side,  after  a  little. 

"  Decent,  unpretentious  folks,  somewhat  new, 
but  with  loads  of  money." 

"  I've  heard  how  the  breed's  stormin'  New  York 
in  droves;  but  they  tell  me  some  of  us  need  the 
money." 

"  I  dined  with  one  last  night,  a  sugar-cured  ham 
magnate  from  Chicago." 

"Dear  me!    how  shockin'!" 

"  But  they're  good,  whole-souled  people." 

"And   \\-e\l-heeled  —  and   that's   what   we  need, 


1 90  THE    SPENDERS 

it  seems.  Some  of  us  been  so  busy  beirf  well- 
familied  that  we've  forgot  to  make  money." 

"  It's  a  good  thing,  too.  Nature  has  her  own 
building  laws  about  fortunes.  When  they  get  too 
sky-scrapy  she  topples  them  over.  These  people 
with  their  thrifty  habits  would  have  all  the  money 
in  time  if  their  sons  and  daughters  didn't  marry 
aristocrats  with  expensive  tastes  who  know  how 
to  be  spenders.  Nature  keeps  things  fairly  even, 
one  way  or  another." 

"  You're  thinkin'  about  Kitty  and  the  duke." 

"  No,  not  then  I  wasn't,  though  that's  one  of 
the  class  I  mean.  I  was  thinking  especially  about 
these  Westerners." 

"  Well,  my  grandfather  made  the  best  barrels  in 
New  York,  and  I'm  mother-in-law  of  a  chap  whose 
ancestors  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  haven't 
done  a  stroke  of  work ;  but  he's  the  Duke  of  Blanch- 
mere,  and  I  hope  our  friends  here  will  come  as  near 
gettin'  the  worth  of  their  money  as  we  did.  And 
if  that  chap  "  —  she  glanced  at  Percival  —  "  marries 
a  certain  young  woman,  he'll  never  have  a  dull 
moment.  I'd  vouch  for  that.  I'm  quite  sure  she's 
the  devil  in  her." 

"  And  if  the  yellow-haired  girl  marries  the 
fellow  next  her  — 

"  He  might  do  worse." 

"  Yes,  but  might  she?  He's  already  doing  worse, 
and  he'll  keep  on  doing  it,  even  if  he  does  marry 
her." 

"  Nonsense  —  about   that,    you   know ;     all    rot ! 


THE    SPENDERS  191 

What  can  you  expect  of  these  chaps?  So  does  the 
duke  do  worse,  but  you'll  never  hear  Kitty  com 
plain  so  long  as  he  lets  her  alone  and  she  can 
wear  the  strawberry  leaves.  I  fancy  I'll  have  those 
young  ones  down  to  the  Hills  for  Hallowe'en  and 
the  week-end.  Might  as  well  help  'em  along." 

At  the  other  end  of  the  table,  the  fine  old  ivory 
of  her  cheeks  gently  suffused  with  pink  until  they 
looked  like  slightly  crumpled  leaves  of  a  la  France 
rose,  Mrs.  Oldaker  was  flirting  brazenly  with  Shep- 
ler,  and  prattling  impartially  to  him  and  to  one  of 
the  twin  nephews  of  old  days  in  social  New  York; 
of  a  time  when  the  world  of  fashion  occupied  a  little 
space  at  the  Battery  and  along  Broadway ;  of  its 
migration  to  the  far  north  of  Great  Jones  Street, 
St.  Mark's  Place,  and  Second  Avenue.  In  Waverly 
Place  had  been  the  flowering  of  her  belle-hood,  and 
the  day  when  her  set  moved  on  to  Murray  Hill  was 
to  her  still  recent  and  revolutionary. 

Between  the  solemn  Angstead  twins,  Mrs.  Bines 
.had  sat  in  silence  until  by  some  happy  chance  it 
transpired  that  "  horse  "  was  the  word  to  unlock 
their  lips.  As  Mrs.  Bines  knew  all  about  horses  the 
twins  at  once  became  voluble,  showing  her  marked 
attention.  The  twins  were  notably  devoid  of  prej 
udice  if  your  sympathies  happened  to  run  with 
theirs. 

Miss  Bines  and  young  Milbrey  were  already  on 
excellent  terms.  Percival  and  Miss  Milbrey,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  doing  badly.  Some  disturbing 
element  seemed  to  have  put  them  aloof.  Miss  Mil- 


192  THE    SPENDERS 

brey  wondered  somewhat;  but  her  mind  was  easy, 
for  her  resolution  had  been  taken. 

Mrs.  G wilt- Athel stan  extended  her  invitation  to 
the  young  people,  who  accepted  joyfully. 

"  Come  down  and  camp  with  us,  and  help  Phim 
keep  the  batteries  of  his  autos  run  out.  You  know 
they  deteriorate  when  they're  left  half-charged,  and 
it's  one  of  the  cares  of  his  life  to  see  to  the  whole 
six  of  'em  when  they  come  in.  He  gets  in  one  and 
the  men  get  in  the  others,  and  he  leads  a  solemn 
parade  around  the  stables  until  they've  been  run 
out.  Tell  me  the  leisure  class  isn't  a  hard-workin' 
class,  now." 

Over  coffee  and  chartreuse  in  the  drawing-room 
there  was  more  general  talk  of  money  and  marriage, 
and  of  one  for  the  other. 

"  And  so  he  married  money,"  concluded  Mrs. 
Gwilt-Athelstan  of  one  they  had  discussed. 

"Happy  marriage!"   Shepler  called  out. 

"  No ;  money  talks !  and  this  time,  on  my  word, 
now,  it  made  you  want  to  put  on  those  thick  sealskin 
ear-muffs.  Poor  chap,  and  he'd  been  talkin'  to  me 
about  the  monotony  of  married  life.  '  Monotony, 
my  boy,'  I  said  to  him,  '  you  don't  knozv  lovely 
woman ! '  and  now  he  wishes  jolly  well  that  he'd 
not  done  it,  you  know." 

Here,  too,  was  earned  by  Mrs.  Bines  a  reputation 
for  wit  that  she  was  never  able  quite  to  destroy. 
There  had  been  talk  of  a  banquet  to  a  visiting  celeb 
rity  the  night  before,  for  which  the  menu  was  one 
of  unusual  costliness.  Mr.  Milbrev  had  dwelt  with 


THE    SPENDERS  193 

feeling  upon  certain  of  its  eminent  excellences, 
such  as  loin  of  young  bear,  a  la  Granville,  and  the 
boned  quail,  stuffed  with  goose-livers. 

"  Really,"  he  concluded,  "  from  an  artistic  stand 
point,  although  large  dinners  are  apt  to  be  slurred 
and  slighted,  it  was  a  creation  of  undoubted  worth." 

"  And  the  orchestra,"  spoke  up  Mrs.  Bines,  who 
had  read  of  the  banquet,  "  played  '  Hail  to  the 
Chef! '  " 

The  laughter  at  this  sally  was  all  it  should  have 
been,  even  the  host  joining  in  it.  Only  two  of 
those  present  knew  that  the  good  woman  had  been 
warned  not  to  call  "  chef  "  "  chief,"  as  Silas  Hig- 
bee  did.  The  fact  that  neither  should  "  chief  "  be 
called  "  chef  "  was  impressed  upon  her  later,  in 
a  way  to  make  her  resolve  ever  again  to  eschew 
both  of  the  troublesome  words. 

When  the  guests  had  gone  Miss  Milbrey  received 
the  praise  of  both  parents  for  her  blameless  attitude 
toward  young  Bines. 

"  It  will  be  fixed  when  we  come  back  from 
Wheatly,"  said  that  knowing  young  woman,  "  and 
now  don't  worry  any  more  about  it." 

"  And,  Fred,"  said  the  mother,  "  do  keep  straight 
down  there.  She's  a  commonplace  girl,  with  lots 
of  mannerisms  to  unlearn,  but  she's  pretty  and  sweet 
and  teachable." 

"  And  she'll  learn  a  lot  from  Fred  that  she 
doesn't  know  now,"  finished  that  young  man's 
sister  from  the  foot  of  the  stairway. 

Back  at  their  hotel  Psyche  Bines  was  saying: 


194  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Isn't  it  queer  about  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  ? 
We've  read  so  much  about  her  in  the  papers.  I 
thought  she  must  be  some  one  awful  to  meet  —  I 
was  that  scared  —  and  instead,  she's  like  any  one, 
and  real  chummy  besides ;  and,  actually,  ma,  don't 
you  think  her  dress  was  dowdy  —  all  except  the 
diamonds?  I  suppose  that  comes  from  living  in 
England  so  much.  And  hasn't  Mrs.  Milbrey  twice 
as  grand  a  manner,  and  the  son  —  he's  a  precious 
—  he  knows  everything  and  everybody ;  I  shall  like 
him." 

Her  brother,  who  had  flung  himself  into  a  cush 
ioned  corner,  spoke  with  the  air  of  one  who  had 
reluctantly  consented  to  be  interviewed  and  who 
was  anxious  to  be  quoted  correctly : 

"  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  is  all  right.  She  reminds 
me  of  what  Uncle  Peter  writes  about  that  new  herd 
of  short-horns :  '  This  breed  has  a  mild  disposition, 
is  a  good  feeder,  and  produces  a  fine  quality  of 
flesh.'  But  I'll  tell  you  one  thing,  sis,"  he  con 
cluded  with  sudden  emphasis,  "  with  all  this  talk 
about  marrying  for  money  I'm  beginning  to  feel 
as  if  you  and  I  were  a  couple  of  white  rabbits  out 
in  the  open  with  all  the  game  laws  off!" 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

The  Course  of  True  Love  at  a  House  Party 

AMONG  sundry  maxims  and  observations  of 
King  Solomon,  collated  by  the  discerning 
men  of  Hezekiah,  it  will  be  recalled  that 
the  way  of  a  man  with  a  maid  is  held  up  to 
wonder.  "  There  be,"  says  the  wise  king,  who 
composed  a  little  in  the  crisp  manner  of  Mr.  Kip 
ling,  "  three  things  which  are  too  wonderful  for  me; 
yea,  four  \vhich  I  know  not :  the  way  of  an  eagle  in 
the  air;  the  way  of  a  serpent  upon  a  rock;  the 
way  of  a  ship  in  the  midst  of  the  sea;  and  the 
way  of  a  man  with  a  maid."  Why  he  neglected 
to  include  the  way  of  a  maid  with  a  man  is  not 
at  once  apparent.  His  unusual  facilities  for  obser 
vation  must  seemingly  have  inspired  him  to  wonder 
at  the  maid's  way  even  more  than  at  the  man's ; 
and  wise  men  later  than  he  have  not  hesitated  to 
confess  their  entire  lack  of  understanding  in  the 
matter.  But  if  Solomon  included  this  item  in  his 
summary,  the  men  of  Hezekiah  omitted  to  report 
the  fact,  and  by  their  chronicles  we  learn  only  that 
the  woman  "  eateth  and  wipeth  her  mouth  and 
saith  '  I  have  done  no  wickedness.' '  Perhaps  it 

195 


196  THE    SPENDERS 

was  Solomon's  mischance  to  observe  phenomena  of 
this  character  too  much  in  the  mass. 

Miss  Milbrey's  way,  at  any  rate,  with  the  man 
she  had  decided  to  marry,  would  undoubtedly  have 
made  more  work  for  the  unnamed  Boswells  of  the 
king,  could  it  have  been  brought  to  his  notice. 

For,  as  she  journeyed  to  the  meeting-place  on  a 
bright  October  afternoon,  she  confessed  to  herself 
that  it  was  of  a  depth  beyond  her  own  fathoming. 
Lolling  easily  back  in  the  wicker  chair  of  the  car 
that  bore  her,  and  gazing  idly  out  over  the  brown 
fields  and  yellow  forests  of  Long  Island  as  they 
swirled  by  her,  she  found  herself  wishing  once 
that  her  eyes  were  made  like  those  of  a  doll.  She 
had  lately  discovered  of  one  that  when  it  appeared 
to  fall  asleep,  it  merely  turned  its  eyes  around  to 
look  into  its  own  head.  With  any  lesser  opportunity 
for  introspection  she  felt  that  certain  doubts  as  to 
her  own  motives  and  processes  would  remain  for 
ever  unresolved.  It  was  not  that  she  could  not 
say  "  I  have  done  no  wickedness ;  "  let  us  place  this 
heroine  in  no  false  light.  She  was  little  concerned 
with  the  morality  of  her  course  as  others  might 
appraise  it.  The  fault,  if  fault  it  be,  is  neither  ours 
nor  hers,  and  Mr.  Darwin  wrote  a  big  book  chiefly 
to  prove  that  it  isn't.  From  the  force  of  her  en 
vironment  and  heredity  Miss  Milbrey  had  debated 
almost  exclusively  her  own  chances  of  happiness 
under  given  conditions;  and  if  she  had,  for  a  time, 
questioned  the  wisdom  of  the  obvious  course,  en 
tirely  from  her  own  selfish  standpoint,  it  is  all  that, 


THE    SPENDERS  197 

and  perhaps  more  than,  we  were  justified  in  expect 
ing  from  her.  Let  her,  then,  cheat  the  reader  of  no 
sympathy  that  might  flow  to  a  heroine  struggling 
for  a  high  moral  ideal.  Merely  is  she  clear-headed 
enough  to  have  discovered  that  selfishness  is  not 
the  thing  of  easy  bonds  it  is  reputed  to  be ;  that  its 
delights  are  not  certain ;  that  one  does  not  unerr 
ingly  achieve  happiness  by  the  bare  circumstance 
of  being  uniformly  selfish.  Yet  even  this  is  a 
discovery  not  often  made,  nor  one  to  be  lightly 
esteemed;  for  have  not  the  wise  ones  of  Church 
and  State  ever  implied  that  the  way  of  selfishness 
is  a  way  of  sure  delight,  to  be  shunned  only  because 
its  joys  endure  not?  So  it  may  be,  after  all,  no 
small  merit  we  claim  for  this  girl  in  that,  trained 
to  selfishness  and  a  certain  course,  she  yet  had  the 
wit  to  suspect  that  its  joys  have  been  overvalued 
even  by  its  professional  enemies.  It  is  no  small 
merit,  perhaps,  even  though,  after  due  and  selfish 
reflection,  she  determined  upon  the  obvious  course. 

If  sometimes  her  heart  was  sick  with  the  hunger 
to  love  and  be  loved  by  the  one  she  loved,  so  that 
there  were  times  when  she  would  have  bartered  the 
world  for  its  plenary  feeding,  it  is  all  that,  we  insist, 
and  more,  than  could  be  expected  of  this  sort  of 
heroine. 

And  so  she  had  resolved  upon  surrender  —  upon 
an  out\vard  surrender.  Inwardly  she  knew  it  to 
be  not  more  than  a  capitulation  under  duress,  whose 
terms  would  remain  for  ever  secret  except  to  those 
clever  at  induction.  And  now,  as  the  train  took 
her  swiftly  to  her  fate,  she  made  the  best  of  it. 


198  THE   SPENDERS 

There  would  be  a  town-house  fit  for  her;  a 
country-house  at  Tuxedo  or  Lenox  or  Westbury,  a 
thousand  good  acres  with  greeneries,  a  game  pre 
serve,  trout  pond,  and  race-course;  a  cottage  at 
Newport ;  a  place  in  Scotland ;  a  house  in  London, 
perhaps.  Then  there  would  be  jewels  such  as  she 
had  longed  for,  a  portrait  by  Chartran,  she  thought. 
And  there  was  the  dazzling  thought  of  going  to 
Felix  or  Doucet  with  credit  unlimited. 

And  he  —  would  the  thought  of  him  as  it  had 
always  come  to  her  keep  on  hurting  with  a  hurt 
she  could  neither  explain  nor  appease?  Would  he 
annoy  her,  enrage  her  perhaps,  or  even  worse,  tire 
her?  He  would  be  very  much  in  earnest,  of  course, 
and  so  few  men  could  be  in  earnest  gracefully. 
But  would  he  be  stupid  enough  to  stay  so?  And 
if  not,  would  he  become  brutal?  She  suspected  he 
might  have  capacities  for  that.  Would  she  be  able 
to  hide  all  but  her  pleasant  emotions  from  him, 
—  hide  that  want,  the  great  want,  to  which  she 
would  once  have  done  sacrifice? 

Well,  it  was  easier  to  try  than  not  to  try,  and 
the  sacrifice  —  one  could  always  sacrifice  if  the  need 
became  imperative. 

"  And  I'm  making  much  of  nothing,"  she  con 
cluded.  "  No  other  girl  I  know  would  do  it.  And 
papa  shall  '  give  me  away.'  What  a  pretty  euphe 
mism  that  is,  to  be  sure!  " 

But  her  troubled  musings  ended  with  her  time 
alone.  From  a  whirl  over  the  crisp,  firm  macadam, 
tucked  into  one  of  Phimister  Gwilt-Athelstan's  auto- 


THE    SPENDERS  199 

mobiles  with  four  other  guests,  with  no  less  a  person 
than  her  genial  host  for  chauffeur,  she  was  presently 
ushered  into  the  great  hall  where  a  huge  log-fire 
crackled  welcome,  and  where  blew  a  lively  little  gale 
of  tea-chatter  from  a  dozen  people. 

Tea  Miss  Milbrey  justly  reckoned  among  the 
little  sanities  of  life.  Her  wrap  doffed  and  her 
veil  pushed  up,  she  was  in  a  moment  restored  to 
her  normal  ease,  a  part  of  the  group,  and  making  her 
part  of  the  talk  that  touched  the  latest  news  from 
town,  the  flower  show,  automobile  show,  Irving  and 
Terry,  the  morning's  meet,  the  weekly  musicale  and 
dinner-dance  at  the  club ;  and  at  length  upon  certain 
matters  of  marriage  and  divorce. 

"  Ladies,  ladies  —  this  is  degenerating  into  a 
mere  hammer-fest."  Thus  spoke  a  male  wit  who 
had  listened.  "  Give  over,  and  be  nice  to  the  absent." 

"  The  end  of  the  fairy  story  was,"  continued  the 
previous  speaker,  unheeding,  "  and  so  they  were 
divorced  and  lived  happily  ever  after." 

"  I  think  she  took  the  Chicago  motto,  '  Marry 
early  and  often,' "  said  another,  "  but  here  she 
comes." 

And  as  blond  and  fluffy  little  Mrs.  Akemit,  a 
late  divorcee,  joined  the  group  the  talk  ranged  back 
to  the  flourishing  new  hunt  at  Goshen,  the  driving 
over  of  Tuxedo  people  for  the  meet,  the  nasty  acci 
dent  to  Warner  Ridgeway  when  his  blue-ribbon 
winner  Musette  fell  upon  him  in  taking  a  double- 
jump. 

Miss  Milbrey  had  taken  stock  of  her  fellow  guests. 


200  THE    SPENDERS 

Especially  was  she  interested  to  note  the  presence 
of  Mrs.  Drelmer  and  her  protege,  Mauburn.  It 
meant,  she  was  sure,  that  her  brother's  wooing  of 
Miss  Bines  would  not  be  uncontested. 

Another  load  of  guests  from  a  later  train  bustled 
in,  the  Bineses  among  them,  and  there  was  more  tea 
and  fresher  gossip,  while  the  butler  circulated  again 
with  his  tray  for  the  trunk-keys. 

The  breezy  hostess  now  took  pains  to  impress 
upon  all  that  only  by  doing  exactly  as  they  pleased, 
as  to  going  and  coming,  could  they  hope  to  please 
her.  Had  she  not,  by  this  policy,  conquered  the 
cold,  Scottish  exclusiveness  of  Inverness-shire,  so 
that  the  right  sort  of  people  fought  to  be  at  her 
house-parties  during  the  shooting,  even  though  she 
would  persist  in  travelling  back  and  forth  to  London 
in  gowns  that  would  be  conspicuously  elaborate  at 
an  afternoon  reception,  and  even  though,  in  any 
condition  of  dress,  she  never  left  quite  enough  of 
her  jewels  in  their  strong-box  ? 

During  the  hour  of  dressing-sacque  and  slippers, 
while  maids  fluttered  through  the  long  corridors  on 
hair-tending  and  dress-hooking  expeditions,  Mrs. 
Drelmer  favoured  her  hostess  with  a  confidential 
chat  in  that  lady's  boudoir,  and,  over  Scotch  and 
soda  and  a  cigarette,  suggested  that  Mr.  Mauburn, 
in  a  house  where  he  could  really  do  as  he  pleased, 
would  assuredly  take  Miss  Bines  out  to  dinner. 

Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan  was  instantly  sympathetic. 

"  Only  I  can't  take  sides,  you  know,  my  dear,  and 
young  Milbrey  will  think  me  shabby  if  he  doesn't 


THE    SPENDERS  201 

have  first  go;  but  I'll  be  impartial;  Milbrey  shall 
take  her  in,  and  Mauburn  shall  be  at  her  other 
side,  and  may  God  have  mercy  on  her  soul !  These 
people  have  so  much  money,  I  hear,  it  amounts  to 
financial  embarrassment,  but  with  those  two  chaps 
for  the  girl,  and  Avice  Milbrey  for  that  decent 
young  chap,  I  fancy  they'll  be  disembarrassed,  in 
a  measure.  But  I  mustn't  '  play  favourites,'  as 
those  slangy  nephews  of  mine  put  it." 

And  so  it  befell  at  dinner  in  the  tapestried  din 
ing-room  that  Psyche  Bines  received  assiduous  at 
tention  from  two  gentlemen  whom  she  considered 
equally  and  superlatively  fascinating.  While  she 
looked  at  one,  she  listened  to  the  other,  and  her 
neck  grew  tired  with  turning.  Of  anything,  save 
the  talk,  her  mind  was  afterward  a  blank;  but 
why  is  not  that  the  ideal  dinner  for  any  but  mere 
feeders  ? 

Nor  was  the  dazzled  girl  conscious  of  others  at 
the  table,  —  of  Florence  Akemit,  the  babyish  blond, 
listening  with  feverish  attention  to  the  German 
savant,  Doctor  von  Herzlich,  who  had  translated 
Goethe's  "  Iphigenie  in  Tauris  "  into  Greek  merely 
as  recreation,  and  who  was  now  justifying  his 
choice  of  certain  words  and  phrases  by  citing  pas 
sages  from  various  Greek  authors;  a  choice  which 
the  sympathetic  listener,  after  discreet  intervals  for 
reflection,  invariably  commended. 

"  Oh,  you  wonderful,  wonderful  man,  you!  "  she 
exclaimed,  resolving  to  sit  by  some  one  less  won 
derful  another  time. 


202  THE    SPENDERS 

Or  there  was  Mrs.  Gwilt-Athelstan,  like  a  moth 
erly  Venus  rising  from  a  sea  of  pink  velvet  and 
white  silk  lace,  asserting  that  some  one  or  other 
would  never  get  within  sniffing-distance  of  the 
Sandringham  set. 

Or  her  husband,  whose  face,  when  he  settled  it 
in  his  collar,  made  the  lines  of  a  perfect  lyre,  and 
of  whom  it  would  presently  become  inaccurate  to 
say  that  he  was  getting  bald.  He  was  insisting 
that  "  too  many  houses  spoil  the  home,"  and  that, 
with  six  establishments,  he  was  without  a  place  to 
lay  his  head,  that  is,  with  any  satisfaction. 

Or  there  was  pale,  thin,  ascetic  Winnie  Wilber- 
force,  who,  as  a  theosophist,  is  understood  to  be 
lieve  that,  in  a  former  incarnation,  he  came  near 
to  having  an  affair  with  a  danseuse;  he  was  ex 
pounding  the  esoterics  of  his  cult  to  a  high-coloured 
brunette  with  many  turquoises,  who,  in  turn,  was 
rather  inclined  to  the  horse-talk  of  one  of  the 
nephews. 

Or  there  were  Miss  Milbrey  and  Percival  Bines, 
of  whom  the  former  had  noted  with  some  surprise 
that  the  latter  was  studying  her  with  the  eyes  of 
rather  cold  calculation,  something  she  had  never 
before  detected  in  him. 

After  dinner  there  were  bridge  and  music  from 
the  big  pipe-organ  in  the  music-room,  and  billiards 
and  some  dancing. 

The  rival  cavaliers  of  Miss  Bines,  perceiving 
simultaneously  that  neither  would  have  the  delicacy 
to  withdraw  from  the  field,  cunningly  inveigled  each 


THE    SPENDERS  203 

other  into  the  billiard-room,  where  they  watchfully 
consumed  whiskey  and  soda  together  with  the  design 
of  making  each  other  drunk.  This  resulted  in  the 
two  nephews,  who  invariably  hunted  as  a  pair,  cap 
turing  Miss  Bines  to  see  if  she  could  talk  horse  as 
ably  as  her  mother,  and,  when  they  found  that 
she  could,  planning  a  coaching  trip  for  the  morrow. 

It  also  resulted  in  Miss  Bines  seeing  no  more  of 
either  cavalier  that  night,  since  they  abandoned 
their  contest  only  after  every  one  but  a  sleepy 
butler  had  retired,  and  at  a  time  when  it  became 
necessary  for  the  Englishman  to  assist  the  Ameri 
can  up  the  stairs,  though  the  latter  was  moved  to 
protest,  as  a  matter  of  cheerful  generality,  that  he 
was  "aw  ri'  —  entirely  cap'le."  At  parting  he 
repeatedly  urged  Mauburn,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to 
point  out  one  single  instance  in  which  he  had  ever 
proved  false  to  a  friend. 

To  herself,  when  the  pink  rose  came  out  of  her 
hair  that  night.  Miss  Milbrey  admitted  that  it  wasn't 
going  to  be  so  bad,  after  all. 

She  had  feared  he  might  rush  his  proposal 
through  that  night ;  he  had  been  so  much  in  earnest. 
But  he  had  not  done  so,  and  she  was  glad  he  could 
be  restrained  and  deliberate  in  that  "  breedy  "  sort 
of  way.  It  promised  well,  that  he  could  wait  until 
the  morrow. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

An  Afternoon  Stroll  and  an  Evening  Catastrophe 

MISS  MILBREY,  the  next  morning-,  faced 
with  becoming  resignation  what  she  felt 
would  be  her  last  day  of  entire  freedom. 
She  was  down  and  out  philosophically  to  play  nine 
holes  with  her  host  before  breakfast. 

Her  brother,  awakening  less  happily,  made  a 
series  of  discoveries  regarding  his  bodily  sensa 
tions  that  caused  him  to  view  life  with  disaffection. 
Noting  that  the  hour  was  early,  however,  he  took 
cheer,  and  after  a  long,  strong,  cold  drink,  which 
he  rang  for,  and  a  pricking  icy  shower,  which  he 
nerved  himself  to,  he  was  ready  to  ignore  his  aching 
head  and  get  the  start  of  Mauburn. 

The  Englishman,  he  seemed  to  recall,  had  drunk 
even  more  than  he,  and,  as  it  was  barely  eight 
o'clock,  would  probably  not  come  to  life  for  a 
couple  of  hours  yet.  He  made  his  way  to  the  break 
fast-room.  The  thought  of  food  was  not  pleasant, 
but  another  brandy  and  soda,  beading  vivaciously 
in  its  tall  glass,  would  enable  him  to  watch  with 
fortitude  the  spectacle  of  others  who  might  chance 
to  be  eating.  And  he  would  have  at  least  two  hours 

204 


THE    SPENDERS  205 

of  Miss  Bines  before  Mauburn's  head  should  ache 
him  back  to  consciousness. 

He  opened  the  door  of  the  spacious  breakfast- 
room.  Through  the  broad  windows  from  the  south 
east  came  the  glorious  shine  of  the  morning  sun 
to  make  him  blink ;  and  seated  where  it  flooded  him 
as  a  calcium  was  Mauburn,  resplendent  in  his  myriad 
freckles,  trim,  alive,  and  obviously  hungry.  Around 
his  plate  were  cold  mutton,  a  game  pie,  eggs,  bacon, 
tarts,  toast,  and  sodden-looking  marmalade.  Mau 
burn  was  eating  of  these  with  a  voracity  that  pub 
lished  his  singleness  of  mind  to  all  who  might 
observe. 

Milbrey  steadied  himself  with  one  hand  upon 
the  door-post,  and  with  the  other  he  sought  to  brush 
this  monstrous  illusion  from  his  fickle  eyes.  But 
Mauburn  and  the  details  of  his  deadly  British 
breakfast  became  only  more  distinct.  The  appalled 
observer  groaned  and  rushed  for  the  sideboard, 
whence  a  decanter,  a  bowl  of  cracked  ice,  and  a 
siphon  beckoned. 

Between  two  gulps  of  coffee  Mauburn  grinned 
affably. 

"  Mornin',  old  chap!  Feelin'  a  bit  seedy?  By 
Jove!  I  don't  wonder.  I'm  not  so  fit  myself.  I 
fancy,  you  know,  it  must  have  been  that  beastly 
anchovy  paste  we  had  on  the  biscuits." 

Milbrey's  burning  eyes  beheld  him  reach  out  for 
another  slice  of  the  cold,  terrible  mutton. 

"Life,"  said  Milbrey,  as  he  inflated  his  brandy 
from  the  siphon,  "  is  an  empty  dream  this  morn 
ing." 


206  THE    SPENDERS 

"Wake  up  then,  old  chap!"  Mauburn  cordially 
urged,  engaging  the  game  pie  in  deadly  conflict; 
"try  a  rasher;  nothing  like  it;  better'n  peggin'  it 
so  early.  Never  drink  till  dinner-time,  old  chap, 
and  you'll  be  able  to  eat  in  the  morning  like  —  like 
a  blooming  baby."  And  he  proceeded  to  crown 
this  notion  of  infancy's  breakfast  with  a  jam  tart 
of  majestic  proportions. 

"Where  are  the  people?"  inquired  Milbrey, 
eking  out  his  own  moist  breakiast  with  a  cigarette. 

"  All  down  and  out  except  some  of  the  women. 
Miss  Bines  just  drove  off  a  four-in-hand  with  the 
two  Angsteads  —  held  the  reins  like  an  old  whip, 
too,  by  Jove ;  but  they'll  be  back  for  luncheon ;  — 
and  directly  after  luncheon  she's  promised  to  ride 
with  me.  I  fancy  we'll  have  a  little  practice  over 
the  sticks." 

"  And  I  fancy  I'm  going  straight  back  to  bed,  — 
that  is,  if  it's  all  right  to  fancy  a  thing  you're  cer 
tain  about." 

Outside  most  of  the  others  had  scattered  for 
life  in  the  open,  each  to  his  taste.  Some  were  on 
the  links.  Some  had  gone  with  the  coach.  A  few 
had  ridden  early  to  the  meet  of  the  Essex  hounds 
near  Easthampton,  where  a  stiff  run  was  expected. 
Others  had  gone  to  follow7  the  hunt  in  traps.  A 
lively  group  came  back  now  to  read  the  morning 
papers  by  the  log-fire  in  the  big  cheery  hall.  Among 
these  were  Percival  and  Miss  Milbrey.  When  they 
had  dawdled  over  the  papers  for  an  hour  Miss 
Milbrey  grew  slightly  restive. 


THE    SPENDERS  207 

"  Why  doesn't  he  have  it  over?  "  she  asked  her 
self,  with  some  impatience.  And  she  delicately  gave 
Percival,  not  an  opportunity,  but  opportunities  to 
make  an  opportunity,  which  is  a  vastly  different 
form  of  procedure. 

But  the  luncheon  hour  came  and  people  straggled 
back,  and  the  afternoon  began,  and  the  request  for 
Miss  Milbrey's  heart  and  hand  was  still  unaccount 
ably  deferred.  Nor  could  she  feel  any  of  those 
subtle  premonitions  that  usually  warn  a  woman 
when  the  event  is  preparing  in  a  lover's  secret  heart. 

Reminding  herself  of  his  letters,  she  began  to 
suspect  that,  while  he  could  write  unreservedly, 
he  might  be  shy  and  reluctant  of  speech ;  and  that 
shyness  now  deterred  him.  So  much  being  clear, 
she  determined  to  force  the  issue  and  end  the  strain 
for  both. 

Percival  had  shown  not  a  little  interest  in  pretty 
Mrs.  Akemit,  and  was  now  talking  with  that  fas 
cinating  creature  as  she  lolled  on  a  low  seat  before 
the  fire  in  her  lacy  blue  house-gown.  At  the  mo 
ment  she  was  adroitly  posing  one  foot  and  then 
the  other  before  the  warmth  of  the  grate.  It  may 
be  disclosed  without  damage  to  this  tale  that  the 
feet  of  Mrs.  Akemit  were  not  cold;  but  that  they 
were  trifles  most  daintily  shod,  and,  as  her  slender 
silken  ankles  curved  them  toward  the  blaze  from 
her  froth  of  a  petticoat,  they  were  worth  looking  at. 

Miss  Milbrey  disunited  the  chatting  couple  with 
swiftness  and  aplomb. 

"  Come,  Mr.  Bines,  if  I'm  to  take  that  tramp 
you  made  me  promise  you,  it's  time  we  were  off." 


208  .      THE   SPENDERS 

Outside  she  laughed  deliciously.  "  You  know  you 
did  make  me  promise  it  mentally,  because  1  knew 
you'd  wrant  to  come  and  want  me  to  come,  but  1 
was  afraid  Mrs.  Akemit  mightn't  understand  about 
telepathy,  so  I  pretended  we'd  arranged  it  all  in 
words." 

"Of  course!  Great  joke,  wasn't  it?"  assented 
the  young  man,  rather  awkwardly. 

Down  the  broad  sweep  of  roadway,  running 
between  its  granite  coping,  they  strode  at  a  smart 
pace. 

"  You  know  you  complimented  my  walking 
powers  on  that  other  walk  we  took,  away  off  there 
where  the  sun  goes  down." 

"  Yes,  of  course,"  he  replied  absently. 

"  Now,  he's  beginning,"  she  said  to  herself,  not 
ing  his  absent  and  somewhat  embarrassed  manner. 

In  reality  he  was  thinking  how  few  were  the 
days  ago  he  would  have  held  this  the  clearest  of 
all  privileges,  and  how  strange  that  he  should  now 
prize  it  so  lightly,  almost  prefer,  indeed,  not  to 
have  it;  that  he  should  regard  her,  of  all  women, 
"  the  fairest  of  all  flesh  on  earth  "  with  nervous 
distrust. 

She  was  dressed  in  tan  corduroy;  elation  was 
in  her  face ;  her  waist,  as  she  stepped,  showed  supple 
as  a  willow;  her  suede-gloved  little  hands  were 
compact  and  tempting  to  his  grasp.  His  senses 
breathed  the  air  of  her  perfect  and  compelling 
femininity.  But  sharper  than  all  these  impressions 
rang  the  words  of  the  worldly-wise  Higbee : 


THE    SPENDERS  209 

"  She's  hunting  night  and  day  for  a  rich  husband; 
she  tries  for  them  as  fast  as  they  come;  she'd  rather 
marry  a  sub-treasury  —  she'd  marry  me  in  a  minute 
—  she'd  marry  YOU  ;  but  if  you  were  broke  she'd 
have  about  as  much  use  for  you  .  .  . 

Her  glance  was  frank,  friendly,  and  encouraging. 
Her  deep  eyes  were  clear  as  a  trout-brook.  He 
thought  he  saw  in  them  once  almost  a  tenderness 
for  him. 

She  thought,  "He  does  love  me!" 

Outside  the  grounds  they  turned  down  a  bridle 
path  that  led  off  through  the  woods  —  off  through 
the  golden  sun-wine  of  an  October  day.  The  air 
bore  a  clean  autumn  spice,  and  a  faint  salty  scent 
blended  with  it  from  the  distant  Sound.  The  autumn 
silence,  which  is  the  only  perfect  silence  in  all  the 
world,  was  restful,  yet  full  of  significance,  sug 
gestion,  provocation.  From  the  spongy  lowland 
back  of  them  came  the  pleading  sweetness  of  a 
meadow-lark's  cry.  Nearer  they  could  even  hear 
an  occasional  leaf  flutter  and  waver  down.  The 
quick  thud  of  a  falling  nut  was  almost  loud  enough 
to  earn  its  echo.  Now  and  then  they  saw  a  lightning 
flash  of  vivid  turquoise  and  heard  a  jay's  harsh 
scream. 

In  this  stillness  their  voices  instinctively  lowered, 
while  their  eyes  did  homage  to  the  wondrous  play 
of  colour  about  them.  Over  a  yielding  brown  carpet 
they  went  among  maple  and  chestnut  and  oak,  with 
their  bewildering  changes  through  crimson,  russet, 
and  amber  to  pale  yellow;  under  the  deep-stained 


210  THE    SPENDERS 

leaves  of  the  sweet-gum  they  went,  and  past  the 
dogwood  with  scarlet  berries  gemming  the  clusters 
of  its  dim  red  leaves. 

But  through  all  this  waiting,  inciting  silence  Miss 
Milbrey  listened  in  vain  for  the  words  she  had  felt 
so  certain  would  come. 

Sometimes  her  companion  was  voluble;  again 
he  was  taciturn  —  and  through  it  all  he  was  dog 
gedly  aloof. 

Miss  Milbrey  had  put  herself  bravely  in  the  path 
of  Destiny.  Destiny  had  turned  aside.  She  had 
turned  to  meet  it,  and  now  it  frankly  fled.  Destiny, 
as  she  had  construed  it,  was  turned  a  fugitive.  She 
was  bruised,  puzzled,  and  not  a  little  piqued. 
During  the  walk  back,  when  this  much  had  been 
made  clear,  the  silence  was  intolerably  oppressive. 
Without  knowing  why,  they  understood  perfectly 
now  that  neither  had  been  ingenuous. 

"  She  would  love  the  money  and  play  me  for  a 
fool,"  he  thought,  under  the  surface  talk.  Youth 
is  prone  to  endow  its  opinions  with  all  the  dignity 
of  certain  knowledge. 

"  Yet  I  am  certain  he  loves  me,"  thought  she.  On 
the  other  hand,  youth  is  often  gifted  with  a  credulity 
divine  and  unerring. 

At  the  door  as  they  came  up  the  roadway  a  trap 
was  depositing  a  man  whom  Miss  Milbrey  greeted 
with  evident  surprise  and  some  restraint.  He  was 
slight,  dark,  and  quick  of  movement,  with  finely 
cut  nostrils  that  expanded  and  quivered  nervously 
like  those  of  a  high-bred  horse  in  tight  check. 


SPENDERS  211 


Miss  Milbrey  introduced  him  to  Percival  as  Mr. 
Ristine. 

"  I  didn't  know  you  were  hereabouts,"  she  said. 

"  I've  run  over  from  the  Bloynes  to  dine  and 
do  Hallowe'en  with  you,"  he  answered,  flashing  his 
dark  eyes  quickly  over  Percival  and  again  lighting 
the  girl  with  them. 

"  Surprises  never  come  singly,"  she  returned,  and 
Percival  noted  a  curious  little  air  of  defiance  in  her 
glance  and  manner. 

Now  it  is  possible  that  Solomon's  implied  dis 
tinction  as  to  the  man's  way  with  a  maid  was  not, 
after  ail,  so  ill  advised. 

For  young  Bines,  after  dinner,  fell  in  love  with 
Miss  Milbrey  all  over  again.  The  normal  human 
mind  going  to  one  extreme  will  inevitably  gravitate 
to  its  opposite  if  given  time.  Having  put  her  away 
in  the  conviction  that  she  was  heartless  and  mer 
cenary  —  having  fasted  in  the  desert  of  doubt  — 
he  now  found  himself  detecting  in  her  an  unmis 
takable  appeal  for  sympathy,  for  human  kindness, 
perhaps  for  love.  He  forgot  the  words  of  Higbee 
and  became  again  the  confident,  unquestioning  lover. 
He  noted  her  rather  subdued  and  reserved  de 
meanour,  and  the  suggestions  of  weariness  about 
her  eyes.  They  drew  him.  He  resolved  at  once 
to  seek  her  and  give  his  love  freedom  to  tell  it 
self.  He  would  no  longer  meanly  restrain  it.  He 
would  even  tell  her  all  his  distrust.  Now  that 
they  had  gone  she  should  know  every  ignoble  sus 
picion;  and,  whether  she  cared  for  him  or  not,  she 


212  THE    SPENDERS 

would  comfort  him  for  the  hurt  they  had  been  to 
him. 

The  Hallowe'en  frolic  was  on.  Through  the  long 
hall,  lighted  to  pleasant  dusk  by  real  Jack-o'-lan 
terns,  stray  couples  strolled,  with  subdued  murmurs 
and  soft  laughter.  In  the  big  white  and  gold  par 
lour,  in  the  dining-room,  billiard-room,  and  in  the 
tropic  jungle  of  the  immense  palm-garden  the  party 
had  bestowed  itself  in  congenial  groups,  ever  inter 
secting  and  forming  anew.  Little  flutters  of  high 
laughter  now  and  then  told  of  tests  that  were  be 
ing  made  with  roasting  chestnuts,  apple-parings, 
the  white  of  an  egg  dropped  into  water,  or  the 
lighted  candle  before  an  open  window. 

Percival  watched  for  the  chance  to  find  Miss 
Milbrey  alone.  His  sister  had  just  ventured  alone 
with  a  candle  into  the  library  to  study  the  face  of 
her  future  husband  in  a  mirror.  The  result  had 
been,  in  a  sense,  unsatisfactory.  She  had  beheld 
looking  over  her  shoulder  the  faces  of  Mauburn, 
Fred  Milbrey,  and  the  Angstead  twins,  and  had 
declared  herself  unnerved  by  the  weird  prophecy. 

Before  the  fire  in  the  hall  Percival  stood  while 
Mrs.  Akemit  reclined  picturesquely  near  by,  and 
Doctor  von  Herzlich  explained,  with  excessive  care 
as  to  his  enunciation,  that  protoplasm  can  be  ana 
lysed  but  cannot  be  reconstructed;  following  this 
with  his  own  view  as  to  why  the  synthesis  does  not 
produce  life. 

"You  wonderful  man!"  from  Mrs.  Akemit;  "I 
fairly  tremble  when  I  think  of  all  you  know.  Oh, 
what  a  delight  science  must  be  to  her  votaries !  " 


THE    SPENDERS  213 

The  Angstead  twins  joined  the  group,  attracted 
by  Mrs.  Akemit's  inquiry  of  the  savant  if  he  did 
not  consider  civilisation  a  failure.  The  twins  did. 
They  considered  civilisation  a  failure  because  it  was 
killing  off  all  the  big  game.  There  was  none  to 
speak  of  left  now  except  in  Africa;  and  they  were 
pessimistic  about  Africa. 

Percival  listened  absently  to  the  talk  and  watched 
Miss  Milbrey,  now  one  of  the  group  in  the  dining- 
room.  Presently  he  saw  her  take  a  lighted  candle 
from  one  of  the  laughing  girls  and  go  toward  the 
library. 

His  heart-beats  quickened.  Now  she  should 
know  his  love  and  it  would  be  well.  He  walked 
down  the  hall  leisurely,  turned  into  the  big  parlour, 
momentarily  deserted,  walked  quickly  but  softly 
over  its  polished  floor  to  a  door  that  gave  into  the 
library,  pushed  the  heavy  portiere  aside  and  stepped 
noiselessly  in. 

The  large  room  was  lighted  dimly  by  two 
immense  yellow  pumpkins,  their  sides  cut  into  faces 
of  grinning  grotesqueness.  At  the  far  side  of  the 
room  Miss  Milbrey  had  that  instant  arrived  before 
an  antique  oval  mirror  whose  gilded  carvings  re 
flected  the  light  of  the  candle.  She  held  it  above 
her  head  with  one  rounded  arm.  He  stood  in  deep 
shadow  and  the  girl  had  been  too  absorbed  in  the 
play  to  note  his  coming.  He  took  one  noiseless 
step  toward  her,  but  then  through  the  curtained 
doorway  by  which  she  had  come  he  saw  a  man 
enter  swiftly  and  furtively. 

Trembling  on  the  verge  of  laughing  speech,  some- 


214  THE    SPENDERS 

thing  held  him  back,  some  unexplainable  instinct, 
making  itself  known  in  a  thrill  that  went  from  his 
feet  to  his  head ;  he  could  feel  the  roots  of  his  hair 
tingle.  The  newcomer  went  quickly,  with  catlike 
tread,  toward  the  girl.  Fascinated  he  stood,  want 
ing  to  speak,  to  laugh,  yet  powerless  from  the 
very  swiftness  of  what  followed. 

In  the  mirror  under  the  candle-light  he  saw  the 
man's  dark  face  come  beside  the  other,  heard  a 
little  cry  from  the  girl  as  she  half-turned;  then 
he  saw  the  man  take  her  in  his  arms,  saw  her  head 
fall  on  to  his  shoulder,  and  her  face  turn  to  his 
kiss. 

He  tried  to  stop  breathing,  fearful  of  discovery, 
grasping  with  one  hand  the  heavy  fold  of  the 
curtain  back  of  him  to  steady  himself. 

There  was  the  space  of  two  long,  trembling 
breaths;  then  he  heard  her  say,  in  a  low,  tense 
voice,  as  she  drew  away : 

"  Oh,  you  are  my  bad  angel  —  why?  —  why?  " 

She  fled  toward  the  door  to  the  hall. 

"  Don't  come  this  way,"  she  called  back,  in  quick, 
low  tones  of  caution. 

The  man  turned  toward  the  door  where  Percival 
stood,  and  in  the  darkness  stumbled  over  a  hassock. 
Instantly  Percival  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
portiere,  and,  before  the  other  had  groped  his  way 
to  the  dark  corner  where  the  door  was,  had  recrossed 
the  empty  parlour  and  was  safely  in  the  hall. 

He  made  his  way  to  the  dining-room,  where 
supper  was  under  way. 


THE    SPENDERS  215 

"  Mr.  Bines  has  seen  a  ghost,"  said  the  sharp- 
eyed  Mrs.  Drelmer. 

"  Poor  chap's  only  starved  to  death,"  said  Mrs. 
Gwilt-Athelstan.  "  Eat  something,  Mr.  Bines ; 
this  supper  is  go-as-you-please.  Nobody's  to  wait 
for  anybody." 

Strung  loosely  about  the  big  table  a  dozen  people 
were  eating  hot  scones  and  bannocks  with  clotted 
cream  and  marmalade,  and  drinking  mulled  cider. 

"  And  there's  cold  fowl  and  baked  beans  and 
doughnuts  and  all,  for  those  who  can't  eat  with  a 
Scotch  accent,"  said  the  host,  cheerfully. 

Percival  dropped  into  one  of  the  chairs. 

"  I'm  Scotch  enough  to  want  a  Scotch  high-ball." 

"  And  you're  getting  it  so  high  it's  top-heavy," 
cautioned  Mrs.  Drelmer. 

Above  the  chatter  of  the  table  could  be  heard 
the  voices  of  men  and  the  musical  laughter  of  women 
from  the  other  rooms. 

"  I  simply  can't  get  'em  together,"  said  the 
hostess. 

"  It's  nice  to  have  'em  all  over  the  place,"  said  her 
husband,  "  fair  women  and  brave  men,  you  know." 

'  The  men  have  to  be  brave,"  she  answered, 
shortly,  with  a  glance  at  little  Mrs.  Akemit,  who 
had  permitted  Percival  to  seat  her  at  his  side,  and 
was  now  pleading  with  him  to  agree  that  simple 
ways  of  life  are  requisite  to  the  needed  measure 
of  spirituality. 

Then  came  strains  of  music  from  the  rich-toned 
organ. 


216  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Oh,  that  dear  Ned  Ristine  is  playing,"  cried 
one ;  and  several  of  the  group  sauntered  toward  the 
music-room. 

The  music  flooded  the  hall  and  the  room,  so 
that  the  talk  died  low. 

"  He's  improvising,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Akemit. 
"  How  splendid !  He  seems  to  be  breathing  a  paean 
of  triumph,  some  high,  exalted  spiritual  triumph, 
as  if  his  soul  had  risen  above  us  —  how  precious !  " 

When  the  deep  swell  had  subsided  to  silvery 
ripples  and  the  last  cadence  had  fainted,  she  looked 
at  Percival  with  moistened  parted  lips  and  eyes 
half-shielded,  as  if  her  full  gaze  would  betray  too 
much  of  her  quivering  soul. 

Then  Percival  heard  the  turquoised  brunette  say : 
"  What  a  pity  his  wife  is  such  an  unsympathetic 
creature !  " 

"But  Mr.  Ristine  is  unmarried,  is  he  not?"  he 
asked,  quickly. 

There  was  a  little  laugh  from  Mrs.  Drelmer. 

"Not  yet  —  not  that  I've  heard  of." 

"I  beg  pardon!" 

'  There  have  been  rumours  lots  of  times  that 
he  was  going  to  be  unmarried,  but  they  always  seem 
to  adjust  their  little  difficulties.  He  and  his  wife 
are  now  staying  over  at  the  Bloynes." 

"  Oh !  I  see,"  answered  Percival ;  "  you're  a 
jester,  Mrs.  Drelmer." 

"  Ristine,"  observed  the  theosophic  Wilberforce, 
in  the  manner  of  a  hired  oracle,  "  is,  in  his  present 
incarnation,  imperfectly  monogamous." 


THE    SPENDERS  217 

Some  people  came   from  the  music-room. 

"  Miss  Milbrey  has  stayed  by  the  organist,"  said 
one;  "and  she's  promised  to  make  him  play  one 
more.  Isn't  he  divine?" 

The  music  came  again. 

"  Oh !  "  from  Mrs.  Akemit,  again  in  an  ecstasy, 
'"'  he's  playing  that  heavenly  stuff  from  the  second 
act  of  '  Tristan  and  Isolde  '  -  the  one  triumphant, 
perfect  love-poem  of  all  music." 

'  That  Scotch  whiskey  is  good  in  some  of  the 
lesser  emergencies,"  remarked  Percival,  turning  to 
her;  "but  it  has  its  limitations.  Let's  you  and  me 
trifle  with  a  nice  cold  quart  of  champagne !  " 


CHAPTER   XX. 

Doctor  Von  Hcrzlich  Expounds  the  Hightowcr  Hotel 
and  Certain  Allied  Phenomena 

THE  High  tower  Hotel  is  by  many  observers 
held  to  be  an  instructive  microcosm  of  New 
York,  more  especially  of  upper  Broadway, 
with  correct  proportions  of  the  native  and  the  vis 
iting  provincial.  With  correct  proportions,  again, 
of  the  money-making  native  and  the  money-spend 
ing  native,  male  and  female.  A  splendid  place  is 
this  New  York ;  splendid  but  terrible.  London  for 
the  stranger  has  a  steady-going,  hearty  hospitality. 
Paris  on  short  notice  will  be  cosily  and  coaxingly 
intimate.  New  York  is  never  either.  It  overwhelms 
with  its  lavish  display  of  wealth,  it  stuns  with  its 
tireless,  battering  energy.  But  it  stays  always  aloof, 
indifferent  if  it  be  loved  or  hated;  if  it  crush  or 
sustain. 

The  ground  floor  of  the  Hightower  Hotel  repro 
duces  this  magnificent,  brutal  indifference.  One 
might  live  years  in  its  mile  or  so  of  stately  corri 
dors  and  its  acre  or  so  of  resplendent  cafes,  parlours, 
reception-rooms,  and  restaurants,  elbowed  by  thou 
sands,  suffocated  by  that  dense  air  of  human  crowd- 
edness,  that  miasma  of  brain  emanations,  and  still 

218 


THE    SPENDERS  219 

remain  in  splendid  isolation,  as  had  he  worn  the 
magic  ring  of  Gyges.  Here  is  every  species  of 
visitor :  the  money-burdened  who  "  stop  "  here  and 
cultivate  an  air  of  being  blase  to  the  wealth  of 
polished  splendours;  and  the  less  opulent  who 
"  stop  ':  cheaply  elsewhere  and  venture  in  to  tread 
the  corridors  timidly,  to  stare  with  honest,  drooping- 
jawed  wonder  at  its  marvels  of  architecture  and 
decoration,  and  to  gaze  with  becoming  reverence  at 
those  persons  whom  they  shrewdly  conceive  to  be 
social  celebrities. 

This  mixture  of  many  and  strange  elements  is 
never  at  rest.  Its  units  wait  expectantly,  chat, 
drink,  eat,  or  stroll  with  varying  airs  through 
reception-room,  corridor,  and  office.  It  is  an  endless 
function,  attended  by  all  of  Broadway,  with  enter 
tainment  diversely  contrived  for  every  taste  by  a 
catholic-minded  host  with  a  sincere  desire  to  please 
the  paying  public. 

"Isn't  it  a  huge  bear-garden,  though?"  asks 
Launton  Oldaker  of  the  estimable  Doctor  von  Herz- 
lich,  after  the  two  had  observed  the  scene  in  silence 
for  a  time. 

The  wise  German  dropped  an  olive  into  his  Rhine 
wine,  and  gazed  reflectively  about  the  room.  Men 
and  women  sat  at  tables  drinking.  Beyond  the 
tables  at  the  farther  side  of  the  room,  other  men 
were  playing  billiards.  It  was  four  o'clock  and  the 
tide  was  high. 

"  It  is  yet  more,"  answered  the  doctor.  "  In  my 
prolonged  studies  of  natural  phenomena  this  is 


220  THE   SPENDERS 

the  most  valuable  of  all  which  I  have  been  privi 
leged  to  observe." 

He  called  them  "  brifiletched  "  and  "  awbsairf  " 
with  great  nicety.  Perhaps  his  discernment  was  less 
at  fault. 

"  Having,"  continued  the  doctor,  "  granted  my 
self  some  respite  from  toil  in  the  laboratory  at 
Marburg,  I  chose  to  pleasure  voyage,  to  study  yet 
more  the  social  conditions  in  this  loveworthy  land. 
I  suspected  that  much  tiredness  of  travel  would 
be  involved.  Yet  here  I  find  all  conditions  whatso 
ever  —  here  in  that  which  you  denominate  '  bear 
garden.'  They  have  been  reduced  here  for  my  edi 
fication,  yes?  But  your  term  is  a  term  of  inade 
quate  comprehensiveness.  It  is  to  me  more  what 
you  call  a  '  beast-garden,'  to  include  all  species  of 
fauna.  Are  there  not  here  moths  and  human  flames  ? 
are  there  not  cunning  serpents  crawling  with  apples 
of  knowledge  to  unreluctant,  idling  Eves,  yes?  Do 
we  not  hear  the  amazing  converse  of  parrots  and 
note  the  pea- fowl  negotiating  admiration  from  ob 
servers?  Mark  at  that  yet  farther  table  also  the 
swine  and  the  song-bird ;  again,  mark  our  draught- 
horses  who  have  achieved  a  competence,  yes?  You 
note  also  the  presence  of  wolves  and  lambs.  And, 
endly,  mark  our  tailed  arborean  ancestors,  trained 
to  the  wearing  of  garments  and  a  single  eye-glass. 
May  I  ask,  have  you  bestowed  upon  this  diversity 
your  completest  high  attention?  Hanh!" 

This  explosion  of  the  doctor's  meant  that  he 
invited  and  awaited  some  contradiction.  As  none 
ensued,  he  went  on : 


THE    SPENDERS  221 

"  For  wolf  and  lamb  I  direct  your  attention  to 
the  group  at  yonder  table.  I  notice  that  you  greeted 
the  young  man  as  he  entered  —  a  common  friend 
to  us  then  —  Mr.  Bines,  with  financial  resources 
incredibly  unlimited  ?  Also  he  is  possessed  of  an 
unexperienced  freedom  from  suspectedness-of-ulte- 
rior-motive-in-others  —  one  may  not  in  English  as 
in  German  make  the  word  to  fit  his  need  of  the 
moment  —  that  unsuspectedness,  I  repeat,  which 
has  ever  characterised  the  lamb  about  to  be  con 
verted  into  nutrition.  You  note  the  large,  loose 
gentleman  with  wide-brimmed  hat  and  beard  after 
my  own,  somewhat,  yes?  He  would  dispose  of 
some  valuable  oil-wells  which  he  shall  discover 
at  Texas  the  moment  he  shall  have  sufficiently  dis 
posed  of  them.  A  wolf  he  is,  yes?  The  more 
correctly  attired  person  at  his  right,  with  the  beak 
of  a  hawk  and  lips  so  thin  that  his  big  white 
teeth  gleam  through  them  when  they  are  yet  shut, 
he  is  what  he  calls  himself  a  promoter.  He  has 
made  sundry  efforts  to  promote  myself.  I  conclude 
'  promoter '  is  one  other  fashion  of  wolf-saying. 
The  yet  littler  and  yet  younger  man  at  his  left  of 
our  friend,  the  one  of  soft  voice  and  insinuating 
manner,  much  resembling  a  stray  scion  of  aristoc 
racy,  discloses  to  those  with  whom  he  affably  ac 
quaints  himself  the  location  of  a  luxurious  gaming 
house  not  far  off;  he  will  even  consent  to  accom 
pany  one  to  its  tables  ;  and  still  yet  he  has  but 
yesterday  evening  invited  me  the  all-town  to  see. 

"  As  a  scientist,  I  remind  you,  I  permit  myself 
no  prejudices.  I  observe  the  workings  of  unemo- 


222  THE    SPENDERS 

tional  law  and  sometimes  record  them.  You  have 
a  saying  here  that  there  are  three  generations 
between  shirt-sleeves  and  shirt-sleeves.  I  observe 
the  process  of  the  progress.  It  is  benign  as  are  all 
processes.  I  have  lately  observed  it  in  England. 
There,  by  their  law  of  entail,  the  same  process  is 
unswifter,  —  yet  does  it  unvary.  The  poor  aris 
tocrats,  almost  back  to  shirt-sleeves,  with  their  taxes 
and  entailed  lands,  seek  for  the  money  in  shops 
of  dress  and  bonnet  and  ale,  and  graciously  rent 
their  castles  to  the  but-newly-opulent  in  American 
oil  or  the  diamonds  of  South  Africa.  Here  the 
posterity  of  your  Mynherr  Knickerbocker  do  like 
wise.  The  ancestor  they  boast  was  a  toiler,  a 
market-gardener,  a  fur-trader,  a  boatman,  hard 
working,  simple-wayed,  unspending.  The  woman 
ancestor  kitchen-gardened,  spun,  wove,  and  nour 
ished  the  poultry.  Their  descendants  upon  the 
savings  of  these  labours  have  forgotten  how  to  la 
bour  themselves.  They  could  not  yet  produce  should 
they  even  relinquish  the  illusion  that  to  produce  is 
of  a  baseness,  that  only  to  consume  is  noble.  I 
gather  reports  that  a  few  retain  enough  of  the 
ancient  strain  to  become  sturdy  tradesmen  and 
gardeners  once  more.  Others  seek  out  and  assimi 
late  this  new-richness,  which,  in  its  turn,  will  be 
come  impoverished  and  helpless.  Ah,  what  beautiful 
showing  of  Evolution! 

"  See  the  pendulum  swing  from  useful  penury 
to  useless  opulence.  Why  does  it  not  halt  midway, 
you  inquire?  Because  the  race  is  so  young.  Ach! 


THE    SPENDERS  223 

a  mere  two  hundred  and  forty  million  years  from 
our  grandfather-grandmother  amreba  in  the  ances 
tral  morass !  What  can  one  be  expecting  ?  Certain 
faculties  develop  in  response  to  the  pressure  of 
environment.  Omit  the  pressure  and  the  faculties 
no  longer  ensue.  Yes  ?  Withdraw  the  pressure,  and 
the  faculties  decay.  Sightless  moles,  their  environ 
ment  demands  not  the  sight;  nor  of  the  fishes  that 
inhabit  the  streams  of  your  Mammoth  Cave.  Your 
aristocrats  between  the  sleeve-of-the-shirt  periods 
likewise  degenerate.  There  is  no  need  to  work, 
they  lose  the  power.  No  need  to  sustain  themselves, 
they  become  helpless.  They  are  as  animals  grown 
in  an  environment  that  demands  no  struggle  of 
them.  Yet  their  environment  is  artificial.  They 
live  on  stored  energy,  stored  by  another.  It  is 
exhausted,  they  perish.  All  but  the  few  that  can 
modify  to  correspond  with  the  changed  environment, 
as  when  your  social  celebrities  venture  into  trade, 
and  the  also  few  that  in  their  life  of  idleness  have 
acquired  graces  of  person  and  manner  to  let  them 
find  pleasure  in  the  eyes  of  marryers  among  the 
but-now-rich." 

The  learned  doctor  submitted  to  have  his  glass 
refilled  from  the  cooler  at  his  side,  dropped  another 
olive  into  the  wine,  and  resumed  before  Oldaker 
could  manage  an  escape. 

"  And  how  long,  you  ask,  shall  the  cosmic  pendu 
lum  swing  between  these  extremes  of  penurious  in 
dustry  and  opulent  idleness?" 

Oldaker  had  not  asked  it.     But  he  tried  politely 


224  THE    SPENDERS 

to  appear  as  if  he  had  meant  to.  He  had  really 
meant  to  ask  the  doctor  what  time  it  was  and  then 
pretend  to  recall  an  engagement  for  which  he 
would  be  already  late. 

"  It  will  so  continue,"  the  doctor  placidly  resumed, 
"  until  the  race  achieves  a  different  ideal.  Now 
you  will  say,  but  there  can  be  no  ideal  so  long  as 
there  is  no  imagination ;  and  as  I  have  directly  - 
a  moment-soon  —  said,  the  race  is  too  young  to 
have  achieved  imagination.  The  highest  felicity 
which  we  are  yet  able  to  imagine  is  a  felicity  based 
upon  much  money;  our  highest  pleasures  the 
material  pleasures  which  money  buys,  yes?  We 
strive  for  it,  developing  the  money-getting  faculty 
at  the  expense  of  all  others ;  and  when  the  money 
is  obtained  we  cannot  enjoy  it.  We  can  imagine 
to  do  with  it  only  delicate-eating  and  drinking  and 
dressing  for  show-to-others  and  building  houses 
immense  and  splendidly  uncalculated  for  homes  of 
rational  dwelling.  Art,  science,  music,  literature, 
sociology,  the  great  study  and  play  of  our  humanity, 
they  are  shut  to  us. 

"  Our  young  friend  Bines  is  a  specimen.  It  is 
as  if  he  were  a  child,  having  received  from  another 
a  laboratory  full  of  the  most  beautiful  instruments 
of  science.  They  are  valuable,  but  he  can  do  but 
common  things  with  them  because  he  knows  not 
their  possibilities.  Or,  we  may  call  it  stored  energy 
he  has ;  for  such  is  money,  the  finest,  subtlest,  most 
potent  form  of  stored  energy;  it  may  command  the 
highest  fruits  of  genius,  the  lowest  fruits  of  ani- 


THE    SPENDERS  225 

mality;  it  is  also  volatile,  elusive.  Our  young 
friend  has  many  powerful  batteries  of  it.  But  he 
is  no  electrician.  Some  he  will  happily  waste  with 
out  harm  to  himself.  Much  of  it,  apparently,  he 
will  convert  into  that  champagne  he  no\v  drinks. 
For  a  week  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  becoming 
known  to  him  he  has  drunk  it  here  each  day,  copi 
ously.  He  cannot  imagine  a  more  salutary  mode 
of  exhausting  his  force.  I  am  told  he  comes  of 
a  father  who  died  at  fifty,  and  who  did  in  many 
ways  like  that.  This  one,  at  the  rate  I  have  ob 
served,  will  not  last  so  long.  He  will  not  so  long 
correspond  with  an  environment  even  so  unexacting 
as  this.  And  his  son,  perhaps  his  grandson,  will 
become  what  you  call  broke ;  will  from  lack  of  pres 
sure  to  learn  some  useful  art,  and  from  spending 
only,  become  useless  and  helpless.  For  besides 
drink,  there  is  gambling.  He  plays  what  you  say, 
the  game  of  poker,  this  Bines.  You  see  the  gentle 
man,  rounded  gracefully  in  front,  who  has  much 
the  air  of  seeming  to  stand  behind  himself,  —  he 
drinks  whiskey  at  my  far  right,  yes?  He  is  of  a 
rich  trust,  the  magnate-director  as  you  say,  and 
plays  at  cards  nightly  with  our  young  friend.  He 
jested  with  him  in  my  presence  before  you  entered, 
saying,  '  I  will  make  you  look  like  '  —  I  forget  it 
now,  but  his  humourous  threat  was  to  reduce  our 
young  friend  to  the  aspect  of  some  inconsiderable 
sum  in  the  money  of  your  country.  I  cannot  recall 
the  precise  amount,  but  it  was  not  so  much  as  what 
you  call  one  dollar.  Strange,  is  it  not,  that  the  rich 


226  THE    SPENDERS 

who  have  too  much  money  gamble  as  feverishly 
as  the  poor  who  have  none,  and  therefore  have  an 
excuse?  And  the  love  of  display- for-display.  If 
one  were  not  a  scientist  one  might  be  tempted  to 
say  there  is  no  progress.  The  Peruvian  grandee 
shod  his  mules  with  pure  gold,  albeit  that  metal 
makes  but  inferior  shodding  for  beasts  of  burden. 
The  London  factory  girl  hires  the  dyed  feathers 
of  the  ostrich  to  make  her  bonnet  gay;  and  your 
money  people  are  as  display-loving.  Lucullus  and 
your  latest  millionaire  joy  in  the  same  emotion  of 
pleasure  at  making  a  show.  Ach !  we  are  truly  in 
the  race's  childhood  yet.  The  way  of  evolution  is 
so  unfast,  yes?  Ah!  you  will  go  now,  Mr.  Oldaker. 
I  shall  hope  to  enjoy  you  more  again.  Your  observa 
tions  have  interested  me  deeply;  they  shall  have 
my  most  high  attention.  Another  time  you  shall 
discuss  with  me  how  it  must  be  that  the  cosmic 
process  shall  produce  a  happy  mean  between  stoic 
and  epicure,  by  learning  the  valuable  arts  of  com 
promise,  yes?  How  Zeno  with  his  bread  and  dates 
shall  learn  not  to  despise  a  few  luxuries,  and  Vitel- 
lius  shall  learn  that  the  mind  may  sometimes  feast 
to  advantage  while  the  body  fasts." 

Through  the  marbled  corridors  and  regal  par 
lours,  down  long  perspectives  of  Persian  rugs  and 
onyx  pillars,  the  function  raged. 

The  group  at  Percival's  table  broke  up.  He  had 
an  appointment  to  meet  Colonel  Poindexter  the  next 
morning  to  consummate  the  purchase  of  some  oil 
stock  certain  to  appreciate  fabulously  in  value.  He 


THE    SPENDERS  227 

had  promised  to  listen  further  to  Mr.  Isidore  Lewis 
regarding  a  plan  for  obtaining  control  of  a  certain 
line  of  one  of  the  metal  stocks.  And  he  had  signi 
fied  his  desire  to  make  one  of  a  party  the  affable 
younger  man  would  guide  later  in  the  evening  to  a 
sumptuous  temple  of  chance,  to  which,  by  good  luck, 
he  had  gained  the  entree.  The  three  gentlemen 
parted  most  cordially  from  him  after  he  had  paid 
the  check. 

To  Mr.  Lewis,  when  Colonel  Poindexter  had  also 
left,  the  young  man  with  a  taste  for  gaming  re 
marked,  ingenuously : 

"  Say,  Izzy,  on  the  level,  there's  the  readiest 
money  that  ever  registered  at  this  joint.  You  don't 
have  to  be  Mr.  William  Wisenham  to  do  business 
with  him.  You  can  have  all  you  want  of  that  at 
track  odds.'' 

"  I'm  making  book  that  way  myself,"  responded 
the  cheerful  Mr.  Lewis ;  "  fifty'll  get  you  a  thou 
sand  any  time,  my  lad.  It's  a  lead-pipe  at  twenty  to 
one.  But  say,  with  all  these  Petroleum  Pete  oil- 
stock  grafters  and  Dawson  City  Daves  with  frozen 
feet  and  mining-stock  in  their  mitts,  a  man's  got 
to  play  them  close  in  to  his  bosom  to  win  out 
anything.  Competition  is  killing  this  place,  my 
boy." 

In  the  Turkish  room  Percival  found  Mrs.  Akemit, 
gowned  to  perfection,  glowing,  and  wearing  a  bunch 
of  violets  bigger  than  her  pretty  head. 

"  I've  just  sent  cards  to  your  mother  and  sister," 
she  explained,  as  she  made  room  for  him  upon  the 
divan. 


228  THE    SPENDERS 

To  them  came  presently  Mrs.  Drelmer,  well- 
groomed  and  aggressively  cheerful. 

"  How  de  do !  Just  been  down  to  Wall  Street 
seeing  how  my  other  half  lives,  and  now  I'm 
famished  for  tea  and  things.  Ah!  here  are  your 
mother  and  our  proud  Western  beauty!  "  And  she 
went  forward  to  greet  them. 

"  It's  more  than  her  other  half  knows  about  her/' 
was  Mrs.  Akemit's  observation  to  the  violets  on 
her  breast. 

"  Come  sit  with  me  here  in  this  corner,  dear," 
said  Mrs.  Drelmer  to  Psyche,  while  Mrs.  Bines 
joined  her  son  and  Mrs.  Akemit.  "  I've  so  much 
to  tell  you.  And  that  poor  little  Florence  Akemit, 
isn't  it  too  bad  about  her.  You  know  one  of  those 
bright  French  women  said  it's  so  inconvenient  to 
be  a  widow  because  it's  necessary  to  resume  the 
modesty  of  a  young  girl  without  being  able  to 
feign  her  ignorance.  No  wonder  Florence  has  a 
hard  time  of  it;  but  isn't  it  wretched  of  me  to 
gossip?  And  I  wanted  to  tell  you  especially  about 
Mr.  Mauburn.  You  know  of  course  he'll  be  Lord 
Casselthorpe  when  the  present  Lord  Casselthorpe 
dies ;  a  splendid  title,  really  quite  one  of  the  best 
in  all  England  ;  and,  my  clear,  he's  out-and-out  smit 
ten  with  you ;  there's  no  use  in  denying  it ;  you 
should  hear  him  rave  to  me  about  you ;  really  these 
young  men  in  love  are  so  inconsiderate  of  us  old 
women.  Ah !  here  is  that  Mrs.  Errol  who  does 
those  fascinating  miniatures  of  all  the  smart  people. 
Excuse  me  one  moment,  my  dear;  I  want  her  to 
meet  your  mother." 


THE    SPENDERS  229 

The  fashionable  miniature  artist  was  presently 
arranging  with  the  dazed  Mrs.  Bines  for  miniatures 
of  herself  and  Psyche.  Mrs.  Drelmer,  beholding  the 
pair  with  the  satisfied  glance  of  one  who  has  per 
formed  a  kindly  action,  resumed  her  tete-a-tete  with 
Psyche. 

Percival,  across  the  room,  listened  to  Mrs. 
Akemit's  artless  disclosure  that  she  found  life  too 
complex  —  far  too  hazardous,  indeed,  for  a  poor 
little  creature  in  her  unfortunate  position,  so  liable 
to  cruel  mis  judgment  for  thoughtless,  harmless  acts, 
the  result  of  a  young  zest  for  life.  She  had  often 
thought  most  seriously  of  a  convent,  indeed  she  had 
-  "  and,  really,  Mr.  Bines,  I'm  amazed  that  I  talk 
this  way  —  so  freely  to  you  —  you  know,  when 
I've  known  you  so  short  a  time ;  but  something  in 
you  compels  my  confidences,  poor  little  me !  and  my 
poor  little  confidences !  One  so  seldom  meets  a 
man  nowadays  with  whom  one  can  venture  to  talk 
about  any  of  the  real  things!  " 

A  little  later,  as  Mrs.  Drelmer  was  leaving,  the 
majestic  figure  of  the  Baron  Ronault  de  Palliac 
framed  itself  in  the  handsome  doorway.  He  saun 
tered  in,  as  if  to  give  the  picture  tone,  and  then 
with  purposeful  air  took  the  seat  Mrs.  Drelmer  had 
just  vacated.  Miss  Bines  had  been  entertained  by 
involuntary  visions  of  herself  as  Lady  Casselthorpe. 
She  now  became  in  fancy  the  noble  Baroness  de 
Palliac,  speaking  faultless  French  and  consorting 
with  the  rare  old  families  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain.  For,  despite  his  artistic  indirection, 


230  'THE    SPENDERS 

the  baron's  manner  was  conclusive,  his  intentions 
unmistakable. 

And  this  day  was  much  like  many  days  in  the 
life  of  the  Bines  and  in  the  life  of  the  Hightower 
Hotel.  The  scene  from  parlour  to  cafe  was  sur 
veyed  at  intervals  by  a  quiet-mannered  person  with 
watchful  eyes,  who  appeared  to  enjoy  it  as  one  upon 
whom  it  conferred  benefits.  Now  he  washed  his 
hands  in  the  invisible  sweet  waters  of  satisfaction, 
and  murmured  softly  to  himself,  "  Setters  and 
Buyers ! "  Perhaps  the  term  fits  the  family  of 
Bines  as  well  as  might  many  another  coined  espe 
cially  for  it. 

When  the  three  groups  in  the  Turkish  room  dis 
solved,  Percival  with  his  mother  and  sister  went 
to  their  suite  on  the  fourth  floor. 

"  Think  of  a  real  live  French  nobleman!  "  cried 
Psyche,  with  enthusiasm,  "  and  French  must  be  such 
a  funny  language  —  he  talks  such  funny  English. 
I  wish  now  I'd  learned  more  of  it  at  the  Sem,  and 
talked  more  with  that  French  Delpasse  girl  that  was 
always  toasting  marshmallows  on  a  hat-pin." 

"  That  lady  Mrs.  Drelmer  introduced  me  to,"  said 
Mrs.  Bines,  "  is  an  artist,  miniature  artist,  hand- 
painted  you  know,  and  she's  going  to  paint  our 
miniatures  for  a  thousand  dollars  each  because 
we're  friends  of  Mrs.  Drelmer." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  exclaimed  Psyche,  with  new  enthusi 
asm,  "  and  Mrs.  Drelmer  has  promised  to  teach  me 
bridge  whist  if  I'll  go  to  her  house  to-morrow. 
Isn't  she  kind  ?  Really,  every  one  must  play  bridge 
now,  she  tells  me." 


THE    SPENDERS  231 

"  Well,  ladies,"  said  the  son  and  brother,  "  I'm 
glad  to  see  you  both  getting  some  of  the  white 
meat.  I  guess  we'll  do  well  here.  I'm  going  into 
oil  stock  and  lead,  myself." 

"  How  girlish  your  little  friend  Mrs.  Akemit  is !  " 
said  his  mother.  "  How  did  she  come  to  lose  her 
husband  ?  " 

"  Lost  him  in  South  Dakota,"  replied  her  son, 
shortly. 

"  Divorced,  ma,"  explained  Psyche,  "  and  Mrs. 
Drelmer  says  her  family's  good,  but  she's  too  gay." 

"  Ah !  "  exclaimed  Percival,  "  Mrs.  Drelmer's 
hammer  must  be  one  of  those  cute  little  gold  ones, 
all  set  with  precious  stones.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
she's  anything  but  gay.  She's  sad.  She  couldn't 
get  along  with  her  husband  because  he  had  no 
dignity  of  soul." 

He  became  conscious  of  sympathising  generously 
with  all  men  not  thus  equipped. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

The  Diversions  of  a    Young  Multi-millionaire 

TO  1)e  idle  and  lavish  of  money,  twenty-five 
years  old,  with  the  appetites  keen  and  the 
need  for  action  always  pressing ;  then  to  have 
loved  a  girl  with  quick,  strong,  youthful  ardour, 
and  to  have  had  the  ideal  smirched  by  gossip,  then 
shattered  before  his  amazed  eyes,  —  this  is  a  situa 
tion  in  which  the  male  animal  is  apt  to  behave 
inequably.  In  the  language  of  the  estimable  Herr 
Doctor  von  Herzlich,  he  will  seek  those  avenues  of 
modification  in  which  the  least  struggle  is  required. 
In  the  simpler  phrasing  of  Uncle  Peter  Bines,  he 
will  "  cut  loose." 

During  the  winter  that  now  followed  Percival 
Bines  behaved  according  to  either  formula,  as  the 
reader  may  prefer.  He  early  ascertained  his  limi 
tations  with  respect  to  New  York  and  its  people. 

"  Say,  old  man,"  he  asked  Herbert  Delancey 
Livingston  one  night,  across  the  table  at  their 
college  club,  "  are  all  the  people  in  New  York 
society  impecunious?" 

Livingston  had  been  with  him  at  Harvard,  and 
Livingston's  family  was  so  notoriously  not  impe- 

232 


THE    SPENDERS  233 

cunious  that  the  question  was  devoid  of  any  per 
sonal  element.  Livingston,  moreover,  had  dined 
just  unwisely  enough  to  be  truthful. 

"  Well,  to  be  candid  with  you,  Bines,"  the  young 
man  had  replied,  in  a  burst  of  alcoholic  confidence, 
"  about  all  that  you  are  likely  to  meet  are  broke  — 
else  you  wouldn't  meet  'em,  you  know,"  he  ex 
plained,  cheerfully.  "  You  know,  old  chap,  a  few 
of  you  Western  people  have  got  into  the  right  set 
here;  there's  the  Nesbits,  for  instance.  On  my 
word  the  good  wife  and  mother  hasn't  the  kinks 
out  of  her  fingers  yet,  nor  the  callouses  from  her 
hands,  by  Jove!  She  worked  so  hard  cooking  and 
washing  woollen  shirts  for  miners  before  Nesbit 
made  his  strike.  As  for  him  —  well  caviare,  I'm 
afraid,  will  always  be  caviare  to  Jimmy  Nesbit. 
And  now  the  son's  married  a  girl  that  had  every 
thing  but  money  —  my  boy,  Nellie  Wemple  has 
fairly  got  that  family  of  Nesbits  awestricken  since 
she  married  into  it,  just  by  the  way  she  can  spend 
money  —  but  what  was  I  saying,  old  chap?  Oh, 
yes,  about  getting  in  —  it  takes  time,  you  know ; 
on  my  word,  I  think  they  were  as  much  as  eight 
years,  and  had  to  start  in  abroad,  at  that.  At  first, 
you  know,  you  can  only  expect  to  meet  a  crowrd 
that  can't  afford  to  be  exclusive  any  longer." 

From  which  friendly  counsel,  and  from  certain 
confirming  observations  of  his  own,  Percival  had 
concluded  that  his  lot  in  New  York  was  to  spend 
money.  This  he  began  to  do  with  a  large  Western 
carelessness  that  speedily  earned  him  fame  of  a 


234  THE   SPENDERS 

sort.  Along  upper  Broadway,  his  advent  was  a 
golden  joy.  Tradesmen  learned  to  love  him; 
florists,  jewelers,  and  tailors  hailed  his  coming 
with  honest  fervour;  waiters  told  moving  tales  of 
his  tips;  cabmen  fought  for  the  privilege  of  trans 
porting  him ;  and  the  hangers-on  of  rich  young  men 
picked  pieces  of  lint  assiduously  and  solicitously 
from  his  coat. 

One  of  his  favourite  resorts  was  the  sumptuous 
gambling-house  in  Forty-fourth  Street.  The  man 
who  slides  back  the  panel  of  the  stout  oaken  door 
early  learned  to  welcome  him  through  the  slit, 
barred  by  its  grill  of  wrought  iron.  The  attendant 
who  took  his  coat  and  hat,  the  waiter  who  took  his 
order  for  food,  and  the  croupier  who  took  his 
money,  were  all  gladdened  by  his  coming;  for  his 
gratuities  were  as  large  when  he  lost  as  when  he 
won.  Even  the  reserved  proprietor,  accustomed  as 
he  was  to  a  wealthy  and  careless  clientele,  treated 
Percival  with  marked  consideration  after  a  night 
when  the  young  man  persuaded  him  to  withdraw 
the  limit  at  roulette,  and  spent  a  large  sum  in  test 
ing  a  system  for  breaking  the  wheel,  given  to  him 
by  a  friend  lately  returned  from  Monte  Carlo. 

"  I  think,  really,  the  fellow  who  gave  me  that 
system  is  an  ass,"  he  said,  lighting  a  cigarette  when 
the  play  was  done.  "  Now  I'm  going  down  and 
demolish  eight  dollars'  worth  of  food  and  drink  — 
you  won't  be  all  to  the  good  on  that,  you  know." 

His  host  decided  that  a  young  man  who  was 
hungry,  after  losing  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 


THE    SPENDERS  235 

five  hours'  play,  was  a  person  to  be  not  lightly 
considered. 

And,  though  he  loved  the  rhythmic  whir  and  the 
ensuing  rattle  of  the  little  ivory  ball  at  the  roulette 
wheel,  he  did  not  disdain  the  quieter  faro,  playing 
that  dignified  game  exclusively  with  the  chocolate- 
coloured  chips,  which  cost  a  thousand  dollars  a 
stack.  Sometimes  he  won;  but  not  often  enough 
to  disturb  his  host's  belief  that  there  is  less  of 
chance  in  his  business  than  in  any  other  known  to 
the  captains  of  industry. 

There  were,  too,  sociable  games  of  poker,  played 
with  Garmer,  of  the  Lead  Trust,  Burman,  the  in 
trepid  young  wheat  operator  from  Chicago,  and 
half  a  dozen  other  well-moneyed  spirits;  games  in 
which  the  limit,  to  use  the  Chicagoan's  phrase,  was 
"  the  beautiful  but  lofty  North  Star."  At  these 
games  he  lost  even  more  regularly  than  at  those 
where,  with  the  exception  of  a  trifling  percentage, 
he  was  solely  at  the  mercy  of  chance.  But  he  was 
a  joyous  loser,'  endearing  himself  to  the  other 
players;  to  Garmer,  whom  Burman  habitually 
accused  of  being  "  closer  than  a  warm  night,"  as 
well  as  to  the  open-handed  son  of  the  chewing-gum 
magnate,  who  had  been  raised  abroad  and  who 
protested  nightly  that  there  was  an  element  of 
beastly  American  commercialism  in  the  game. 
When  Percival  was  by  some  chance  absent  from  a 
sitting,  the  others  calculated  the  precise  sum  he  prob 
ably  would  have  lost  and  humourously  acquainted 
him  with  the  amount  by  telegraph  next  morning,  — 


236  THE    SPENDERS 

it  was  apt  to  be  nine  hundred  and  some  odd  dollars, 
-  requesting  that  he  cover  by  check  at  his  early 
convenience. 

Yet  the  diversion  was  not  all  gambling.  There 
were  long  sessions  at  all-night  restaurants  where  the 
element  of  chance  in  his  favour,  inconspicuous  else 
where,  was  wholly  eliminated ;  suppers  for  hungry 
Thespians  and  thirsty  parasites,  protracted  with  song 
and  talk  until  the  gas-flames  grew  pale  yellow,  and 
the  cabmen,  when  the  party  went  out  into  the  wan 
light,  would  be  low-voiced,  confidential,  and  sugges 
tive  in  their  approaches. 

Broadway  would  be  weirdly  quiet  at  such  times, 
save  for  the  occasional  frenzied  clatter  of  a  hurry 
ing  milk-wagon.  Even  the  cars  seemed  to  move 
with  less  sound  than  by  day,  and  the  early-rising 
workers  inside,  holding  dinner-pails  and  lunch- 
baskets,  were  subdued  and  silent,  yet  strangely 
observing,  as  if  the  hour  were  one  in  which  the 
vision  was  made  clear  to  appraise  the  values  of  life 
justly.  To  the  north,  whence  the  cars  bulked 
silently,  would  be  an  awakening  sky  of  such  tender 
beauty  that  the  revellers  often  paid  it  the  tribute 
of  a  moment's  notice. 

"  Pure  turquoise,"  one  would  declare. 

"  With  just  a  dash  of  orange  bitters  in  it," 
another  might  add. 

And  then  perhaps  they  burst  into  song  under  the 
spell,  blending  their  voices  into  what  the  profes 
sional  gentlemen  termed  "  barber-shop  harmonies," 
until  a  policeman  would  saunter  across  the  street, 


THE    SPENDERS  237 

pretending,  however,  that  he  was  not  aware  of 
them. 

Then  perhaps  a  ride  toward  the  beautiful 
northern  sky  would  be  proposed,  whereupon  three 
or  four  hansom  or  coupe  loads  would  begin  a 
journey  that  wound  up  through  Central  Park 
toward  the  northern  light,  but  which  never  attained 
a  point  remoter  than  some  suburban  road-house, 
where  sleepy  cooks  and  bartenders  would  have  to 
be  routed  out  to  collaborate  toward  breakfast. 

Oftener  the  party  fell  away  into  straggling  groups 
with  notions  for  sleep,  chanting  at  last,  perhaps : 

"  While  beer  brings  gladness,  don't  forget 
That  water  only  makes  you  wet !  " 

Percival  would  walk  to  the  hotel,  sobered  and 
perhaps  made  a  little  reflective  by  the  unwonted 
quiet.  But  they  were  pleasant,  careless  folk,  he 
concluded  always.  They  permitted  him  to  spend 
his  money,  but  he  \vas  quite  sure  they  would  spend 
it  as  freely  as  he  if  they  had  it.  More  than  one 
appreciative  soubrette,  met  under  such  circumstances, 
was  subsequently  enabled  to  laud  the  sureness  of 
his  taste  in  jewels,  —  he  cared  little  for  anything  but 
large  diamonds,  it  transpired.  It  was  a  feeling  trib 
ute  paid  to  his  munificence  by  one  of  these  in  con 
verse  with  a  sister  artist,  who  had  yet  to  meet  him  : 

"  Say,  Myrtle,  on  the  dead,  he  spends  money 
just  like  a  young  Jew  trying  to  be  white !  " 

Under  this  more  or  less  happy  surface  of  diver- 


238  THE    SPENDERS 

sion,  however,  was  an  experience  decidedly  less 
felicitous.  He  knew  he  should  not,  must  not,  hold 
Avice  Milbrey  in  his  mind;  yet  when  he  tried  to 
put  her  out  it  hurt  him. 

At  first  he  had  plumed  himself  upon  his  lucky 
escape  that  night,  when  he  would  have  declared  his 
love  to  her.  To  have  married  a  girl  who  cared 
cnly  for  his  money;  that  would  have  been  dire 
enough.  But  to  marry  a  girl  like  that!  He  had 
been  lucky  indeed ! 

Yet,  as  the  weeks  went  by  the  shock  of  the  scene 
wore  off.  The  scene  itself  remained  clear,  with 
the  grinning  grotesquerie  of  the  Jack-o'-lanterns 
lighting  it  and  mocking  his  simplicity.  But  the 
first  sharp  physical  hurt  had  healed.  He  was  forced 
to  admit  that  the  girl  still  had  power  to  trouble 
him.  At  times  his  strained  nerves  would  relax  to 
no  other  device  than  the  picturing  of  her  as  his 
own.  Exactly  in  the  measure  that  he  indulged 
this  would  his  pride  smart.  With  a  budding  gift 
for  negation  he  could  imagine  her  caring  for  nothing 
but  his  money;  and  there  was  that  other  picture, 
swift  and  awful,  a  pantomime  in  shadow,  with  the 
leering  yellow  faces  above  it. 

In  the  far  night,  when  he  awoke  to  sudden  and 
hungry  aloneness,  he  would  let  his  arms  feel  their 
hunger  for  her.  The  vision  of  her  would  be  flowers 
and  music  and  sunlight  and  time  and  all  things 
perfect  to  mystify  and  delight,  to  satisfy  and  - 
greatest  of  all  boons  —  to  unsatisfy.  The  thought 
of  her  became  a  rest-house  for  all  weariness ;  a 


THE    SPENDERS  239 

haven  where  he  was  free  to  choose  his  nook  and 
lie  down  away  from  all  that  was  not  her,  which 
was  all  that  was  not  beautiful.  He  would  go 
back  to  seek  the  lost  sweetness  of  their  first  meeting ; 
to  mount  the  poor  dead  belief  that  she  would  care 
for  him  —  that  he  could  make  her  care  for  him  — 
and  endow  the  thing  with  artificial  life,  trying  to 
capture  the  faint  breath  of  it ;  but  the  memory  was 
alwrays  fleeting,  attenuated,  like  the  spirit  of  the 
memory  of  a  perfume  that  had  been  elusive  at 
best.  And  always,  to  banish  what  joy  even  this 
poor  device  might  bring,  came  the  more  vivid 
vision  of  the  brutal,  sordid  facts.  He  forced  himself 
to  face  them  regularly  as  a  penance  and  a  corrective. 

They  came  before  him  with  especial  clearness 
when  he  met  her  from  time  to  time  during  the 
winter.  He  watched  her  in  talk  with  others,  noting 
the  contradiction  in  her  that  she  would  at  one 
moment  appear  knowing  and  masterful,  with  depths 
of  reserve  that  the  other  people  neither  fathomed 
nor  knew  of;  and  at  another  moment  frankly  girlish, 
with  an  appealing  feminine  helplessness  which  is 
woman's  greatest  strength,  coercing  every  strong 
masculine  instinct. 

When  the  reserve  showed  in  her,  he  became 
afraid.  What  was  she  not  capable  of?  In  the 
other  mood,  frankly  appealing,  she  drew  him 
mightily,  so  that  he  abandoned  himself  for  the 
moment,  responding  to  her  fresh  exulting  youth, 
longing  to  take  her,  to  give  her  things,  to  make 
her  laugh,  to  enfold  and  protect  her,  to  tell  her 


240  THE    SPENDERS 

secrets,  to  feather  her  cheek  with  the  softest  kiss, 
to  be  the  child-mate  of  her. 

Toward  him,  directly,  when  they  met  she  would 
sometimes  be  glacial  and  forbidding,  sometimes 
uninterestedly  frank,  as  if  they  were  but  the  best 
of  commonplace  friends.  Yet  sometimes  she  made 
him  feel  that  she,  too,  threw  herself  heartily  to  rest 
in  the  thought  of  their  loving,  and  cheated  herself, 
as  he  did,  with  dreams  of  comradeship.  She  left 
him  at  these  times  with  the  feeling  that  they  were 
deaf,  dumb,  and  blind  to  each  other;  that  if  some 
means  of  communication  could  be  devised,  some 
thing  surer  than  the  invisible  play  of  secret  longings, 
all  might  yet  be  well.  They  talked  as  the  people 
about  them  talked,  words  that  meant  nothing  to 
either,  and  if  there  were  mute  questionings,  naked 
appeals,  unuttered  declarations,  they  were  only 
such  as  language  serves  to  divert  attention  from. 
Speech,  doubtless,  has  its  uses  as  well  as  its  abuses. 
Politics,  for  example,  would  be  less  entertaining 
without  it.  But  in  matters  of  the  heart,  certain  it 
is  that  there  would  be  fewer  misunderstandings  if 
it  were  forbidden  between  the  couple  under  the 
penalty  of  immediate  separation.  In  this  affair  real 
meanings  are  rarely  conveyed  except  by  silences. 
Words  are  not  more  than  tasteless  drapery  to  ob 
scure  their  lines.  The  silence  of  lovers  is  the  plainest 
of  all  speech,  warning,  disconcerting  indeed,  by  its 
very  bluntness,  any  but  the  truly  mated.  An  hour's 
silence  with  these  two  people  by  themselves  might 
have  worked  wonders. 


THE    SPENDERS  241 

Another  diversion  of  Percival's  during  this  some 
what  feverish  winter  was  Mrs.  Akemit.  Not  only 
was  she  a  woman  of  finished  and  expert  daintiness 
in  dress  and  manner  and  surroundings,  but  she 
soothed,  flattered,  and  stimulated  him.  With  the 
\visdom  of  her  thirty-two  years,  devoted  chiefly  to 
a  study  of  his  species,  she  took  care  never  to  be 
exigent.  She  had  the  way  of  referring  to  herself 
as  "  poor  little  me,"  yet  she  never  made  demands 
or  allowed  him  to  feel  that  she  expected  anything 
from  him  in  the  way  of  allegiance. 

Mrs.  Akemit  was  not  only  like  St.  Paul,  "  all 
things  to  all  men,"  but  she  had  gone  a  step  beyond 
that  excellent  theologue.  She  could  be  all  things 
to  one  man.  She  was  light-heartedly  frivolous, 
soberly  reflective,  shallow,  profound,  cynical  or 
naive,  ingenuous,  or  inscrutable.  She  prized  dearly 
the  ecclesiastical  background  provided  by  her  uncle, 
the  bishop,  and  had  him  to  dine  with  the  same 
unerring  sense  of  artistry  that  led  her  to  select 
swiftly  the  becoming  shade  of  sofa-cushion  to  put 
her  blond  head  back  upon. 

The  good  bishop  believed  she  had  jeopardised 
her  soul  with  divorce.  He  feared  now  she  meant 
to  lose  it  irrevocably  through  remarriage.  As  a 
foil  to  his  austerity,  therefore,  she  would  be  auda 
ciously  gay  in  his  presence. 

"  Hell,"  she  said  to  him  one  evening,  "  is  given 
up  so  reluctantly  by  those  who  don't  expect  to  go 
there."  And  while  the  bishop  frowned  into  his 
salad  she  invited  Percival  to  drink  with  her  in 


242  THE    SPENDERS 

the  manner  of  a  woman  who  is  mad  to  invite 
perdition.  If  the  good  man  could  have  beheld  her 
before  a  background  of  frivolity  he  might  have 
suffered  less  anxiety.  For  there  her  sense  of  con 
trast-values  led  her  to  be  grave  and  deep,  to 
express  distaste  for  society  with  its  hollowness, 
and  to  expose  timidly  the  cruel  scars  on  a  soul  meant 
for  higher  things. 

Many  afternoons  Percival  drank  tea  with  her 
in  the  little  red  drawing-room  of  her  dainty 
apartment  up  the  avenue.  Here  in  the  half  light 
which  she  had  preferred  since  thirty,  in  a  soft 
corner  with  which  she  harmonised  faultlessly,  and 
where  the  blaze  from  the  open  fire  coloured  her 
animated  face  just  enough,  she  talked  him  usually 
into  the  glow  of  a  high  conceit  with  himself.  When 
she  dwelt  upon  the  shortcomings  of  man,  she  did 
it  with  the  air  of  frankly  presuming  him  to  be  dif 
ferent  from  all  others,  one  who  could  sympathise 
with  her  through  knowing  the  frailties  of  his  sex, 
yet  one  immeasurably  superior  to  them.  When 
he  was  led  to  talk  of  himself  —  of  whom,  it  seemed, 
she  could  never  learn  enough  —  he  at  once  came 
to  take  high  views  of  himself:  to  gaze,  through  her 
tactful  prompting,  with  a  gentle,  purring  apprecia 
tion  upon  the  manifest  spectacle  of  his  own  worth. 

Sometimes,  away  from  her,  he  wondered  how  she 
did  it.  Sometimes,  in  her  very  presence,  his  sense 
of  humour  became  alert  and  suspicious.  Part  of 
the  time  he  decided  her  to  be  a  charming  woman, 
with  a  depth  and  quality  of  sweetness  unguessed 


THE    SPENDERS  243 

by  the  world.  The  rest  of  the  time  he  remembered 
a  saying  about  alfalfa  made  by  Uncle  Peter:  "  It's 
an  innocent  lookin',  triflin'  vegetable,  but  its  roots 
go  right  down  into  the  ground  a  hundred  feet." 

"  My  dear,"  Mrs.  Akemit  had  once  confided  to 
an  intimate  in  an  hour  of  negligee,  "  to  meet  a  man, 
any  man,  from  a  red-cheeked  butcher  boy  to  a  blood 
less  monk,  and  not  make  him  feel  something  new 
for  you  —  something  he  never  before  felt  for  any 
other  woman  —  really  it's  as  criminal  as  a  wrinkled 
stocking,  or  for  blondes  to  wear  shiny  things. 
Every  woman  can  do  it,  if  she'll  study  a  little  how 
to  reduce  them  to  their  least  common  denominator 
—  how  to  make  them  primitive." 

Of  another  member  of  Mrs.  Akemit's  household 
Percival  acknowledged  the  sway  with  never  a  mis 
giving.  He  had  been  the  devoted  lover  of  Baby 
Akemit  from  the  afternoon  when  he  had  first  cajoled 
her  into  autobiography  —  a  vivid,  fire-tipped  little 
thing  with  her  mother's  piquancy.  He  gleaned 
that  day  that  she  was  "  a  quarter  to  four  years 
old ;  "  that  she  was  mamma's  girl,  but  papa  was 
a  friend  of  Santa  Glaus;  that  she  went  to  "ball- 
dances  "  every  day  clad  in  "  dest  a  stirt  'cause  big 
ladies  don't  ever  wear  waist-es  at  night ;  "  that 
she  had  once  ridden  in  a  merry-go-round  and  it 
made  her  "  all  homesick  right  here,"  patting  her 
stomach;  and  that  "elephants  are  horrid,  but  you 
mustn't  be  cruel  to  them  and  cut  their  eyes  out. 
Oh,  no!" 

Her  Percival  courted  with  results  that  left  noth- 


244  rHE    SPENDERS 

ing  to  be  desired.  She  fell  to  the  floor  in  helpless, 
shrieking  laughter  when  he  came.  In  his  honour 
she  composed  and  sang  songs  to  an  improvised  and 
spirited  accompaniment  upon  her  toy  piano.  His 
favourites  among  these  were  '  'Cause  Why  I 
Love  You  "  and  "  Darling,  Ask  Myself  to  Come  to 
You."  She  rendered  them  with  much  feeling.  If 
he  were  present  when  her  bed-time  came  she  refused 
to  sleep  until  he  had  consented  to  an  interview. 

Avice  Milbrey  had  the  fortune  to  witness  one 
of  these  bed-time  can-series.  One  late  afternoon  the 
young  man's  summons  came  while  he  Avas  one  of 
a  group  that  lingered  late  about  Mrs.  Akemit's 
little  tea-table,  Miss  Milbrey  being  of  the  number. 

He  followed  the  maid  dutifully  out  through  the 
hall  to  the  door  of  the  bedroom,  and  entered  on 
all-fours  with  what  they  two  had  agreed  was  the 
growl  of  a  famished  bear. 

The  familiar  performance  was  viewed  by  the 
mother  and  by  Miss  Milbrey,  whom  the  mother 
had  urged  to  follow.  Baby  Akemit  in  her  crib, 
modestly  arrayed  in  blue  pajamas,  after  simulating 
the  extreme  terror  required  by  the  situation,  fell 
to  chatting,  while  her  mother  and  Miss  Milbrey 
looked  on  from  the  doorway. 

Miss  Akemit  had  once  been  out  in  the  woods, 
it  appeared,  and  a  "  biting-wolf  "  chased  her,  and 
she  ran  and  ran  until  she  came  to  a  river  all  full 
of  pigs  and  fishes  and  berries,  so  she  jumped  in 
and  had  supper,  and  it  wasn't  a  "  biting-wolf  "  at 
all  —  and  then  — 


THE    SPENDERS  245 

But  the  narrative  was  cut  short  by  her  mother. 

"  Come,  Pet!    Mr.  Bines  wishes  to  go  now." 

Miss  Akemit,  it  appeared,  was  bent  upon  relating 
the  adventures  of  Goldie  Locks,  subsequent  to  her 
leap  from  the  window  of  the  bears'  house.  She 
had,  it  seemed,  been  compelled  to  ride  nine-twenty 
miles  on  a  trolley,  and,  reaching  home  too  late  for 
luncheon,  had  been  obliged  to  eat  in  the  kitchen 
with  the  cook. 

"Mr.  Bines  can't  stay,  darling!" 

Baby  Akemit  calculated  briefly,  and  consented  to 
his  departure  if  Mr.  Bines  would  bring  her  some 
thing  next  time. 

Mr.  Bines  promised,  and  moved  away  after  the 
customary  embrace,  but  she  was  not  through : 

"  Oh !  oh !  go  out  like  a  bear !  dere's  a  bear 
come  in  here !  " 

And  so,  having  brought  the  bear  in,  he  was  forced 
to  drop  again  and  growl  the  beast  out,  whereupon, 
appeased  by  this  strict  observance  of  the  unities, 
the  child  sat  up  and  demanded : 

'  You  sure  you'll  bring  me  somefin  next  time?  " 

"  Yes,  sure,  Lady  Grenville  St.  Clare." 

:'  Well,  you  sure  you're  comin   next  time?  " 

Being  reassured  on  this  point,  and  satisfied  that 
no  more  bears  were  at  large,  she  lay  down  once 
more  while  Percival  and  the  two  observers  returned 
to  the  drawing-room. 

"You  love  children  so!"  Miss  Milbrey  said. 
And  never  had  she  been  so  girlishly  appealing  to  all 
that  was  strong  in  him  as  a  man.  The  frolic  with 


246  THE    SPENDERS 

the  child  seemed  to  have  blown  away  a  fog  from 
between  them.  Yet  never  had  the  other  scene  been 
more  vivid  to  him,  and  never  had  the  pain  of  her 
heartlessness  been  more  poignant. 

When  he  "  played  "  with  Baby  Akemit  thereafter, 
the  pretence  was  not  all  with  the  child.  For  while 
she  might  "  play  "  at  giving  a  vexatiously  large 
dinner,  for  which  she  was  obliged  to  do  the  cooking 
because  she  had  discharged  all  the  servants,  or  when 
they  "  played  ''  that  the  big  couch  was  a  splendid 
ferry-boat  in  which  they  were  sailing  to  Chicago 
where  Uncle  David  lived  —  with  many  stern  threats 
to  tell  the  janitor  of  the  boat  if  the  captain  didn't 
behave  himself  and  sail  faster  —  Percival  "  played  " 
that  his  companion's  name  was  Baby  Bines,  and 
that  her  mother,  who  watched  them  with  loving  eyes, 
was  a  sweet  and  gracious  young  woman  named 
Avice.  And  when  he  told  Baby  Akemit  that  she 
was  "  the  only  original  sweetheart  "  he  meant  it 
of  some  one  else  than  her. 

When  the  play  was  over  he  always  conducted 
himself  back  to  sane  reality  by  viewing  this  some 
one  else  in  the  cold  light  of  truth. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

The  Distressing  Adventure  of  Mrs.  Bines 

THE  fame  of  the  Bines  family  for  despising 
money  was  not  fed  wholly  by  Percival's 
unremitting  activities.  Miss  Psyche  Bines, 
during  the  winter,  achieved  wide  and  enviable 
renown  as  a  player  of  bridge  whist.  Not  for  the 
excellence  of  her  play ;  rather  for  the  inveteracy  and 
size  of  her  losses  and  the  unconcerned  cheerfulness 
with  which  she  defrayed  them.  She  paid  the  con 
siderable  sums  with  an  air  of  gratitude  for  having 
been  permitted  to  lose  them.  Especially  did  she 
seem  grateful  for  the  zealous  tutelage  and  chaper- 
onage  of  Mrs.  Drelmer. 

"  Everybody  in  New  York  plays  bridge,  my 
dear,  and  of  course  you  must  learn,"  that  capable 
lady  had  said  in  the  beginning. 

"  But  I  never  was  bright  at  cards,"  the  girl  con 
fessed,  "  and  I'm  afraid  I  couldn't  learn  bridge  well 
enough  to  interest  you  good  players." 

"Nonsense!"  was  Mrs.  Drelmer's  assurance. 
"  Bridge  is  easy  to  learn  and  easy  to  play.  I'll  teach 
you,  and  I  promise  you  the  people  you  play  with 
shall  never  complain." 

247 


248  THE    SPENDERS 

Mrs.  Drelmer,  it  soon  appeared,  knew  what  she 
was  talking  about. 

Indeed,  that  well-informed  woman  was  always 
likely  to.  Her  husband  was  an  intellectual  delin 
quent  whom  she  spoke  of  largely  as  being  "  in  Wall 
Street/'  and  in  that  feat  of  jugglery  known  as 
"  keeping  up  appearances,"  his  wife  had  long  been 
the  more  dexterous  performer. 

She  was  apt  not  only  to  know  what  she  talked 
about,  but  she  was  a  woman  of  resource,  unafraid 
of  action.  She  drilled  Miss  Bines  in  the  rudiments 
of  bridge.  If  the  teacher  became  subsequently  much 
the  largest  winner  of  the  pupil's  losings,  it  was, 
perhaps,  not  more  than  her  fit  recompense.  For 
Miss  Bines  enjoyed  not  only  the  sport  of  the  game, 
but  her  manner  of  playing  it,  combined  with  the 
social  prestige  of  her  amiable  sponsor,  procured  her 
a  circle  of  acquaintances  that  would  otherwise  have 
remained  considerably  narrower.  An  enthusiastic 
player  of  bridge,  of  passable  exterior,  mediocre  skill, 
and  unlimited  resources,  need  never  want  in  New 
York  for  very  excellent  society.  Not  only  was  the 
Western  girl  received  by  Mrs.  Drelmer's  immediate 
circle,  but  more  than  one  member  of  what  the  lady 
called  "  that  snubby  set  "  would  now  and  then  make 
a  place  for  her  at  the  card-table.  A  few  of  Mrs. 
Drelmer's  intimates  \vere  so  wanting  in  good  taste 
as  to  intimate  that  she  exploited  Miss  Bines  even 
to  the  degree  of  an  understanding  expressed  in 
bald  percentage,  with  certain  of  those  to  whom  she 
secured  the  girl's  society  at  cards.  Whether  this 


THE    SPENDERS  249 

ill-natured  gossip  was  true  or  false,  it  is  certain 
that  the  exigencies  of  life  on  next  to  nothing  a 
year,  with  a  husband  who  could  boast  of  next  to 
nothing  but  Family,  had  developed  an  unerring  busi 
ness  sense  in  Mrs.  Drelmer;  and  certain  it  also 
is  that  this  winter  was  one  when  the  appearances 
with  which  she  had  to  strive  were  unwontedly 
buoyant. 

Miss  Bines  tirelessly  memorised  rules.  She  would 
disclose  to  her  placid  mother  that  the  lead  of  a 
trump  to  the  third  hand's  go-over  of  hearts  is  of 
doubtful  expediency;  or  that  one  must  "follow 
suit  with  the  smallest,  except  when  you  have  only 
two,  neither  of  them  better  than  the  Jack.  Then 
play  the  higher  first,  so  that  when  the  lower  falls 
your  partner  may  know  you  are  out  of  the  suit, 
and  ruff  it." 

Mrs.  Bines  declared  that  it  did  seem  to  her  very 
much  like  out-and-out  gambling.  But  Percival, 
looking  over  the  stubs  of  his  sister's  check-book, 
warmly  protested  her  innocence  of  this  charge. 

"  Heaven  knows  sis  has  her  shortcomings," 
he  observed,  patronisingly,  in  that  young  woman's 
presence,  ''but  she's  no  gambler;  don't  say  it,  ma, 
I  beg  of  you!  She  only  knows  five  rules  of  the 
game,  and  I  judge  it's  cost  her  about  three  thousand 
dollars  each  to  learn  those.  And  the  only  one  she 
never  forgets  is,  '  When  in  doubt,  lead  your  highest 
check.'  But  don't  ever  accuse  her  of  gambling. 
Poor  girl,  if  she  keeps  on  playing  bridge  she'll 
have  writer's  cramp;  that's  all  I'm  afraid  of.  I 


250  THE    SPENDERS 

see  there's  a  new  rapid-fire  check-book  on  the  market, 
and  an  improved  fountain  pen  that  doesn't  slobber. 
I'll  have  to  get  her  one  of  each." 

Yet  Psyche  Bines's  experience,  like  her  brother's, 
was  not  without  a  proper  leaven  of  sentiment. 
There  was  Fred  Milbrey,  handsome,  clever,  amus 
ing,  knowing  every  one,  and  giving  her  a  pleasant 
sense  of  intimacy  with  all  that  was  worth  while  in 
New  York.  Him  she  felt  very  friendly  to. 

Then  there  was  Mauburn,  presently  to  be  Lord 
Casselthorpe,  with  his  lazy,  high-pitched  drawl; 
good-natured,  frank,  carrying  an  atmosphere  of 
high-class  British  worldliness,  and  delicately  awak 
ening  within  her  while  she  was  with  him  a  sense 
of  her  own  latent  superiority  to  the  institutions  of 
her  native  land.  She  liked  Mauburn,  too. 

More  impressive  than  either  of  these,  however, 
was  the  Baron  Renault  de  Palliac.  Tall,  swarthy, 
saturnine,  a  polished  man  of  all  the  world,  of  man 
ners  finished,  elaborate,  and  ceremonious,  she  found 
herself  feeling  foreign  and  distinguished  in  his 
presence,  quite  as  if  she  were  the  heroine  of  a 
romantic  novel,  and  might  at  any  instant  be  called 
upon  to  assist  in  royalist  intrigues.  The  baron,  to 
her  intuition,  nursed  secret  sorrows.  For  these 
she  secretly  worshipped  him.  It  is  true  that  when 
he  dined  with  her  and  her  mother,  which  he  was 
frequently  gracious  enough  to  do,  he  ate  with  a 
heartiness  that  belied  this  secret  sorrow  she  had 
imagined.  But  he  was  fascinating  at  all  times, 
with  a  grace  at  table  not  less  finished  than  that 


THE    SPENDERS  251 

with  which  he  bowed  at  their  meetings  and  part 
ings.  It  was  not  unpleasant  to  think  of  basking 
daily  in  the  shine  of  that  grand  manner,  even  if 
she  did  feel  friendlier  with  Milbrey,  and  more  at 
ease  with  Mauburn. 

If  the  truth  must  be  told,  Miss  Bines  was  less 
impressionable  than  either  of  the  three  would  have 
wished.  Her  heart  seemed  not  easy  to  reach;  her 
impulses  were  not  inflammable.  Young  Milbrey 
early  confided  to  his  family  a  suspicion  that  she  was 
singularly  hard-headed,  and  the  definite  information 
that  she  had  "  a  hob-nailed  Western  way  "  of  treat 
ing  her  admirers. 

Mauburn,  too,  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that, 
while  she  frankly  liked  him,  he  was  for  some  reason 
less  a  favourite  than  the  Baron  de  Palliac. 

"  It'll  be  no  easy  matter  marrying  that  girl,"  he 
told  Mrs.  Drelmer.  "  She's  really  a  dear,  and 
awfully  good  fun,  but  she's  not  a  bit  silly,  and  I 
dare  say  she'll  marry  some  chap  because  she  likes 
him.  and  not  because  he's  anybody,  you  know." 

"  Make  her  like  you,"  insisted  his  adviser. 

"  On  my  word,  I  wrish  she  did.  And  I'm  not  so 
sure,  you  know,  she  doesn't  fancy  that  Frenchman, 
or  even  young  Milbrey." 

"  I'll  keep  you  before  her,"  promised  Mrs.  Drel 
mer,  "  and  I  wish  you'd  not  think  you  can't  win 
her.  'Tisn't  like  you." 

Miss  Bines  accordingly  heard  that  it  was  such 
a  pity  young  Milbrey  drank  so,  because  his  only 
salvation  lay  in  making  a  rich  marriage,  and  a 


252  THE    SPENDERS 

young  man,  nowadays,  had  to  keep  fairly  sober  to 
accomplish  that.  Really,  Mrs.  Drelmer  felt  sorry 
for  the  poor  weak  fellow.  "  Good-hearted  chap,  but 
he  has  no  character,  my  dear,  so  I'm  afraid  there's 
no  hope  for  him.  He  has  the  soul  of  a  merchant 
tailor,  actually,  but  not  the  tailor's  manhood.  Other 
wise  he'd  be  above  marrying  some  unsuspecting  girl 
for  her  money  and  breaking  her  heart  after  marriage. 
Now,  Mauburn  is  a  type  so  different ;  honest,  un 
affected,  healthy,  really  he's  a  man  for  any  girl 
to  be  proud  of,  even  if  he  were  not  heir  to  a  title  — 
one  of  the  best  in  all  England,  and  an  ornament 
of  the  most  exclusively  correct  set;  of  a  line,  my 
dear,  that  is  truly  great  —  not  like  that  shoddy 
French  nobility,  discredited  in  France,  that  sends  so 
many  of  its  comic-opera  barons  here  looking  for 
large  dowries  to  pay  their  gambling  debts  and  put 
furniture  in  their  rattle-trap  old  chateaux,  and  keep 
them  in  absinthe  and  their  other  peculiar  diversions. 
And  Mauburn,  you  lucky  minx,  simply  adores 
you  —  he's  quite  mad  about  you,  really!  " 

In  spite  of  Mrs.  Drelmer's  two-edged  sword, 
Miss  Bines  continued  rather  more  favourable  to 
the  line  of  De  Palliac.  The  baron  was  so  splendid, 
so  gloomy,  so  deferential.  He  had  the  air  of  laying 
at  her  feet,  as  a  rug,  the  whole  glorious  history  of 
France.  And  he  appeared  so  well  in  the  victoria 
when  they  drove  in  the  park. 

It  is  true  that  the  heart  of  Miss  Bines  was  as  yet 
quite  untouched ;  and  it  was  not  more  than  a  cool, 
dim,  aesthetic  light  in  which  she  surveyed  the  three 


THE    SPENDERS  253 

suitors  impartially,  to  behold  the  impressive  figure 
of  the  baron  towering  above  the  others.  Had  the 
baron  proposed  for  her  hand,  it  is  not  impossible 
that,  facing  the  question  directly,  she  would  have 
parried  or  evaded. 

But  certain  events  befell  unpropitiously  at  a  time 
when  the  baron  was  most  certain  of  his  conquest; 
at  the  very  time,  indeed,  when  he  had  determined 
to  open  his  suit  definitely  by  extending  a  proposal 
to  the  young  lady  through  the  orthodox  medium 
of  her  nearest  male  relative. 

"  I  admit,"  wrote  the  baron  to  his  expectant 
father,  "  that  it  is  what  one  calls  '  very  chances '  in 
the  English,  but  one  must  venture  in  this  country, 
and  your  son  is  not  without  much  hope.  And  if 
not.  there  is  still  Mile.  Higbee." 

The  baron  shuddered  as  he  wrote  it.  He  pre 
ferred  not  to  recognise  even  the  existence  of  this 
alternative,  for  the  reason  that  the  father  of  Mile. 
Higbee  distressed  him  by  an  incompleteness  of 
suavity. 

"  He  conducts  himself  like  a  pork,"  the  baron 
would  declare  to  himself,  by  way  of  perfecting  his 
English. 

The  secret  cause  of  his  subsequent  determination 
not  to  propose  for  the  hand  of  Miss  Bines  lay  in 
the  hopelessly  middle-class  leanings  of  the  lady  who 
might  have  incurred  the  supreme  honour  of  becom 
ing  his  mother-in-law.  Had  Mrs.  Bines  been  above 
talking  to  low  people,  a  catastrophe  might  have  been 
averted.  But  Mrs.  Bines  was  not  above  it.  She 


254  ?HE    SPENDERS 

was  quite  unable  to  repress  a  vulgar  interest  in  the 
menials  that  served  her. 

She  knew  the  butler's  life  history  two  days  after 
she  had  ceased  to  be  afraid  of  him.  She  knew  the 
distressing  family  affairs  of  the  maids ;  how  many 
were  the  ignoble  progeny  of  the  elevator-man,  and 
what  his  plebeian  wife  did  for  their  croup;  how 
much  rent  the  hall-boy's  low-born  father  paid  for 
his  mean  two-story  dwelling  in  Jersey  City;  and 
how  many  hours  a  day  or  night  the  debased  scrub 
women  devoted  to  their  unrefining  toil. 

Brazenly,  too,  she  held  converse  with  Philippe, 
the  active  and  voluble  Alsatian  who  served  her  when 
she  chose  to  dine  in  the  public  restaurant  instead  of 
at  her  own  private  table.  Philippe  acquainted  her 
with  the  joys  and  griefs  of  his  difficult  profession. 
There  were  fourteen  thousand  waiters  in  New  York, 
if,  by  waiters,  you  meant  any  one.  Of  course  there 
were  not  so  many  like  Philippe,  men  of  the  world 
who  had  served  their  time  as  assistants  and  their 
three  years  as  sub-waiters ;  men  who  spoke  English, 
French,  and  German,  who  knew  something  of 
cooking,  how  to  dress  a  salad,  and  how  to  carve. 
Only  such,  it  appeared,  could  be  members  of  the 
exclusive  Geneva  Club  that  procured  a  place  for  you 
when  you  were  idle,  and  paid  you  eight  dollars  a 
week  when  you  were  sick. 

Having  the  qualifications,  one  could  earn  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  month  in  salary  and  three  or  four  times 
as  much  in  gratuities.  Philippe's  income  was  never 
less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  month ; 


THE    SPENDERS  255 

for  was  he  not  one  who  had  come  from  Europe 
as  a  master,  after  two  seasons  at  Paris  where  a  man 
acquires  his  polish  —  his  perfection  of  manner,  his 
finish,  his  grace  ?  Philippe  could  never  enough  prize 
that  post-graduate  course  at  the  Maison  d'Or,  where 
he  had  personally  known  —  madame  might  not  be 
lieve  it  —  the  incomparable  Casmir,  a  chef  who 
served  two  generations  of  epicures,  princes,  kings, 
statesmen,  travelling  Americans, — all  the  truly  great. 

With  his  own  lips  Casmir  had  told  him,  Philippe, 
of  the  occasion  when  Dumas,  pere,  had  invited  him 
to  dinner  that  they  might  discuss  the  esoterics  of 
salad  dressing  and  sauces;  also  of  the  time  when 
the  Marquis  de  St.  Georges  embraced  Casmir  for 
inventing  the  precious  soup  that  afterwards  became 
famous  as  Potage  Germine.  And  now  the  skilled 
and  puissant  Casmir  had  retired.  It  was  a  calamity. 
The  Maison  d'Or  —  Paris  —  would  no  longer  be 
what  they  had  been. 

For  that  matter,  since  one  must  live,  Philippe  pre 
ferred  it  to  be  in  America,  for  in  no  other  country 
could  an  adept  acquire  so  much  money.  And 
Philippe  knew  the  whole  dining  world.  With  Celine 
and  the  baby,  Paul,  Philippe  dwelt  in  an  apartment 
that  would  really  amaze  madame  by  its  appoint 
ments  of  luxury,  in  East  38th  Street,  and  only  the 
four  flights  to  climb.  And  Paul  was  three,  the 
largest  for  his  age,  quite  the  largest,  that  either 
Philippe  or  Celine  had  ever  beheld.  Even  the 
brother  of  Celine  and  his  wife,  who  had  a  restau 
rant  of  their  own  —  serving  the  table  d'hote  at  two 


256  THE    SPENDERS 

and  one-half  francs  the  plate,  with  wine  —  even 
these  swore  they  had  never  seen  an  infant  so  big, 
for  his  years,  as  Paul. 

And  so  Mrs.  Bines  grew  actually  to  feel  an 
interest  in  the  creature  and  his  wretched  affairs, 
and  even  fell  into  the  deplorable  habit  of  saying, 
"  I  must  come  to  see  you  and  your  wife  and  Paul 
some  pleasant  day,  Philippe,"  and  Philippe,  being  a 
man  of  the  world,  thought  none  the  less  of  her  for 
believing  that  she  did  not  mean  it. 

Yet  it  befell  on  an  afternoon  that  Mrs.  Bines 
found  herself  in  a  populous  side-street,  driving  home 
from  a  visit  to  the  rheumatic  scrub- woman  who 
had  now  to  be  supported  by  the  papers  her  miserable 
offspring  sold.  Mrs.  Bines  had  never  seen  so 
many  children  as  flooded  this  street.  She  wondered 
if  an  orphan  asylum  were  in  the  neighbourhood. 
And  though  the  day  was  pleasantly  warm,  she 
decided  that  there  were  about  her  at  least  a  thousand 
cases  of  incipient  pneumonia,  for  not  one  child 
in  five  had  on  a  hat.  They  raged  and  dashed  and 
rippled  from  "curb  to  curb  so  that  they  might  have 
made  her  think  of  a  swift  mountain  torrent  at 
the  bottom  of  a  gloomy  canon,  but  that  the  worthy 
woman  was  too  literal-minded  for  such  fancies. 
She  only  warned  the  man  to  drive  slowly. 

And  then  by  a  street  sign  she  saw  that  she  was 
near  the  home  of  Philippe.  It  was  three  o'clock,  and 
he  would  be  resting  from  his  work.  The  man 
found  the  number.  The  waves  parted  and  piled 
themselves  on  either  side  in  hushed  wonder  as 


THE    SPENDERS  257 

she  entered  the  hallway  and  searched  for  the  name 
on  the  little  cards  under  the  bells.  She  had  never 
known  the  surname,  and  on  two  of  the  cards  "  Ph.'' 
appeared.  She  rang  one  of  the  bells,  the  door 
mysteriously  opened  with  a  repeated  double  click, 
and  she  began  the  toilsome  climb.  The  \vaves  of 
children  fell  together  behind  her  in  turbulent  play 
again. 

At  the  top  she  breathed  a  moment  and  then 
knocked  at  a  door  before  her.  A  voice  within 
called: 

"  Entrcz!  "  and  Mrs.  Bines  opened  the  door. 

It  was  the  tiny  kitchen  of  Philippe.  Philippe, 
himself,  in  shirt-sleeves,  sat  in  a  chair  tilted  back 
close  to  the  gas-range,  the  Courier  des  Etats  Unis  in 
his  hands  and  Paul  on  his  lap.  Celine  ironed  the 
bosom  of  a  gentleman's  white  shirt  on  an  ironing 
board  supported  by  the  backs  of  two  chairs. 

Hemmed  in  the  corner  by  this  board  and  by  the 
gas-range,  seated  at  a  table  covered  by  the  oilcloth 
that  simulates  the  marble  of  Italy's  most  famous 
quarry,  sat,  undoubtedly,  the  Baron  Renault  de 
Palliac.  A  steaming  plate  of  spaghetti  a  la  Italien 
was  before  him,  to  his  left  a  large  bowl  of  salad,  to 
his  right  a  bottle  of  red  wine. 

For  a  space  of  three  seconds  the  entire  party 
behaved  as  if  it  were  being  photographed  under 
time-exposure.  Philippe  and  the  baby  stared,  mo 
tionless.  Celine  stared,  resting  no  slight  weight 
on  the  hot  flat-iron.  The  Baron  Renault  de  Pal 
liac  stared,  his  fork  poised  in  mid-air  and  festooned 
with  gay  little  streamers  of  spaghetti. 


258  THE   SPENDERS 

Then  came  smoke,  the  smell  of  scorching  linen, 
and  a  cry  of  horror  from  Celine. 

"  Ah,  la  seule  chemise  blanche  de  Monsieur  le 
Baron! " 

The  spell  was  broken.  Philippe  was  on  his  feet, 
bowing  effusively. 

"  Ah !  it  is  Madame  Bines.    Je  suis  tres  honor e  — 
I  am  very  honoured  to  welcome  you,  madame.     It 
is  madame,  ma  femme,  Celine,  —  and  —  Monsieur 
le  Baron  de  Palliac  —  " 

Philippe  had  turned  with  evident  distress  toward 
the  latter.  But  Philippe  was  only  a  waiter,  and 
had  not  behind  him  the  centuries  of  schooling  that 
enable  a  gentleman  to  remain  a  gentleman  under 
adverse  conditions. 

The  Baron  Renault  de  Palliac  arose  with  unruffled 
aplomb  and  favoured  the  caller  with  his  stateliest 
bow.  He  was  at  the  moment  a  graceful  and  silenc 
ing  rebuke  to  those  who  aver  that  manner  and  attire 
be  interdependent.  The  baron's  manner  was  ideal, 
undiminished  in  volume,  faultless  as  to  decorative 
qualities.  One  fitted  to  savour  its  exquisite  finish 
would  scarce  have  noted  that  above  his  waist  the 
noble  gentleman  was  clad  in  a  single  woollen  under 
garment  of  revolutionary  red. 

Or,  if  such  a  one  had  observed  this  trifling  cir 
cumstance,  he  would,  assuredly,  have  treated  it  as 
of  no  value  to  the  moment;  something  to  note, 
perhaps,  and  then  gracefully  to  forget. 

The  baron's  own  behaviour  would  have  served 
as  a  model.  One  swift  glance  had  shown  him  there 


SPENDERS  259 

was  no  way  of  instant  retreat.  That  being"  im 
possible,  none  other  was  graceful ;  hence  none  other 
was  to  be  considered.  He  permitted  himself  not 
even  a  glance  at  the  shirt  upon  whose  fair,  defence 
less  bosom  the  iron  of  the  overcome  Celine  had 
burned  its  cruel  brown  imprimature.  Mrs.  Bines 
had  greeted  him  as  he  would  have  wished,  uncon 
scious,  apparently,  that  there  could  be  cause  for 
embarrassment. 

"  Ah !  madame,"  he  said,  handsomely,  "  you  see 
me,  I  unfast  with  the  fork.  You  see  me  here,  I 
have  envy  of  the  simple  life.  I  am  content  of  to  do 
it  —  comme  qa  —  as  that,  see  you,"  waving  in  the 
direction  of  his  unfinished  repast.  "  All  that  mag 
nificence  of  your  grand  hotel,  there  is  not  the  why 
of  it,  the  most  big  of  the  world,  and  suchly  stupe 
fying,  with  its  '  infernil  rackit '  as  you  say.  And 
of  more  —  what  droll  of  idea,  enough  curious,  by 
example!  to  dwell  with  the  good  Philippe  and  his 
femme  amiable.  Their  hotel  is  of  the  most  littles, 
but  I  rest  here  very  volunteerly  since  longtime.  Is 
it  that  one  can  to  comprehend  liking  the  vast  hotel 
American?  " 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  lodges  with  us ;  we  have 
so  much  of  the  chambers,"  ventured  Celine. 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  wishes  to  retire  to  his  apart 
ment,"  said  Philippe,  raising  the  ironing-board. 
"  Will  madame  be  so  good  to  enter  our  petit  salon 
at  the  front,  n'est-ce-pas? '' 

The  baron  stepped  forth  from  his  corner  and 
bowed  himself  graciously  out. 


260  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Madame,  my  compliments  —  and  to  the  adora 
ble  Mademoiselle  Bines !  Au  revoir,  madame  —  to 
the  soontime  —  avant  peu  —  before  little !  " 

On  the  farther  side  of  his  closed  door  the  Baron 
Renault  de  Palliac  swore  —  once.  But  the  oath 
was  one  of  the  most  awful  that  a  Frenchman  may 
utter  in  his  native  tongue :  "  Sacred  Name  of  a 
Name!" 

"  But  the  baron  wasn't  done  eating,"  protested 
Mrs.  Bines. 

"Ah,  yes,  madame!"  replied  Philippe.  "Mon 
sieur  le  Baron  has  consumed  enough  for  now.  Paul, 
mon  enfant,  ne  louche  pas  la  robe  de  madame!  He 
is  large,  is  he  not,  madame,  as  I  have  told  you  ?  A 
monster,  yes?  " 

Mrs.  Bines,  stooping,  took  the  limp  and  wide-eyed 
Paul  up  in  her  arms.  Whereupon  he  began  to  talk 
so  fast  to  her  in  French  that  she  set  him  quickly 
down  again,  with  the  slightly  helpless  air  of  one 
who  has  picked  up  an  innocent-looking  clock  only 
to  have  the  clanging  alarm  go  suddenly  off. 

"  Madame  will  honour  our  little  salon,"  urged 
Philippe,  opening  the  door  and  bowing  low. 

"  Quel  dommage! "  sighed  Celine,  moving  after 
them ;  "  la  seule  chemise  blanche  de  Monsieur  le 
Baron.  Eh  bien!  il  faut  lui  en  achcter  nne  autre!" 

At  dinner  that  evening  Mrs.  Bines  related  her 
adventure,  to  the  unfeigned  delight  of  her  graceless 
son,  and  to  the  somewhat  troubled  amazement  of 
her  daughter. 

"  And,  do  you  know,"  she  ventured,  "  maybe  he 
isn't  a  regular  baron,  after  all !  " 


THE    SPENDERS  261 

"  Oh,  I  guess  he's  a  regular  one  all  right,"  said 
Percival;  "only  perhaps  he  hasn't  worked  at  it 
much  lately." 

"  But  his  sitting  there  eating  in  that  —  that 
shirt  —  "  said  his  sister. 

"  My  clear  young  woman,  even  the  nobility  are 
prey  to  climatic  rigours;  they  are  obliged,  like  the 
wretched  low-born  such  as  ourselves,  to  wear  — 
pardon  me  —  undergarments.  Again,  I  understand 
from  Mrs.  Cadwallader  here  that  the  article  in 
question  was  satisfactory  and  fit  —  red,  I  believe 
you  say,  Mrs.  Terwilliger?  " 

"Awful  red!"  replied  his  mother  —  "and  they 
call  their  parlour  a  saloon." 

"  And  of  necessity,  even  the  noble  have  their 
moments  of  deshabille." 

"  They  needn't  eat  their  lunch  that  way,"  declared 
his  sister. 

"Is  deshabille  French  for  underclothes?"  asked 
Mrs.  Bines,  struck  by  the  word. 

"  Partly,"  answered  her  son. 

"  And  the  way  that  child  of  Philippe's  jabbered 
French !  It's  wonderful  how  they  can  learn  so 
young." 

"  They  begin  early,  you  know,"  Percival  ex 
plained.  "  And  as  to  our  friend  the  baron,  I'm 
ready  to  make  book  that  sis  doesn't  see  him  again, 
except  at  a  distance." 

Sometime  afterwards  he  computed  the  round  sum 
he  might  have  won  if  any  such  bets  had  been  made; 
for  his  sister's  list  of  suitors,  to  adopt  his  own 
lucent  phrase,  was  thereafter  "  shy  a  baron." 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

The  Summer  Campaign  Is  Planned 

WINTER  waned  and  spring  charmed  the  land 
into  blossom.  The  city-pent,  as  we  have 
intimated,  must  take  this  season  largely 
on  faith.  If  one  can  find  a  patch  of  ground  naked 
of  stone  or  asphalt  one  may  feel  the  heart  of  the 
earth  beat.  But  even  now  the  shop-windows  are 
more  inspiring.  At  least  they  copy  the  outer  show. 
Tender-hued  shirt-waists  first  push  up  their  sprouts 
of  arms  through  the  winter  furs  and  woollens,  quite 
as  the  first  violets  out  in  the  \\oodland  thrust  them 
selves  up  through  the  brown  carpet  of  leaves.  Then 
every  window  becomes  a  summery  glade  of  lawn, 
tulle,  and  chiffon,  more  lavish  of  tints,  shades,  and 
combinations,  indeed,  than  ever  nature  dared  to  be. 

Outside,  where  the  unspoiled  earth  begins,  the 
blossoms  are  clouding  the  trees  with  a  mist  of  pink 
and  white,  and  the  city-dweller  knows  it  from  the 
bloom  and  foliage  of  these  same  windows. 

Then  it  is  that  the  spring  "  get  away  "  urge  is 
felt  by  each  prisoner,  by  those  able  to  obey  it,  and 
by  those,  alike,  who  must  wear  it  down  in  the 
groomed  and  sophisticated  wildness  of  the  city 
parks. 

262 


THE    SPENDERS  263 

On  a  morning  late  in  May  Mrs.  Bines  and  her 
daughter  were  at  breakfast. 

"Isn't  Percival  coming?"  asked  his  mother. 
"  Everything  will  be  cold." 

"  Can't  say,"  Psyche  answered.  "  I  don't  even 
know  if  he  came  in  last  night.  But  don't  worry 
about  cold  things.  You  can't  get  them  too  cold 
for  Perce  at  breakfast,  nowadays.  He  takes  a  lot 
of  ice-water  and  a  little  something  out  of  the 
decanter,  and  maybe  some  black  coffee." 

"  Yes,  and  I'm  sure  it's  bad  for  him.  He  doesn't 
look  a  bit  healthy  and  hasn't  since  he  quit  eating 
breakfast.  He  used  to  be  such  a  hearty  eater  at 
breakfast,  steaks  and  bacon  and  chops  and  eggs  and 
waffles.  It  was  a  sight  to  see  him  eat ;  and  since 
he's  quit  taking  anything  but  that  cold  stuff  he's 
lost  his  colour  and  his  eyes  don't  look  right.  I 
know  what  he's  got  hold  of  —  it's  that  '  no-break 
fast  '  fad.  I  heard  about  it  from  Mrs.  Balldridge 
when  we  came  here  last  fall.  I  never  did  believe  in 
it,  either." 

The  object  of  her  solicitude  entered  in  dressing- 
gown  and  slippers. 

"  I'm  just  telling  Psyche  that  this  no-breakfast 
fad  is  hurting  your  health,  my  son.  Now  do  come 
and  eat  like  you  used  to.  You  began  to  look  bad 
as  soon  as  you  left  off  your  breakfast.  It's  a  silly 
fad,  that's  what  it  is.  You  can't  tell  me!" 

The  young  man  stared  at  his  mother  until  he 
had  mastered  her  meaning.  Then  he  put  both  hands 
to  his  head  and  turned  to  the  sideboard  as  if  to 
conceal  his  emotion. 


264  THE    SPENDERS 

"  That's  it,"  he  said,  as  he  busied  himself  with 
a  tall  glass  and  the  cracked  ice.  "  It's  that  '  no- 
breakfast  '  fad.  I  didn't  think  you  knew  about  it. 
The  fact  is,"  he  continued,  pouring  out  a  measure 
of  brandy,  and  directing  the  butler  to  open  a  bottle 
of  soda,  "  we  all  eat  too  much.  After  a  night  of 
sound  sleep  we  awaken  refreshed  and  buoyant,  all 
our  forces  replenished;  thirsty,  of  course,  but  not 
hungry  "  —  he  sat  down  to  the  table  and  placed 
both  hands  again  to  his  head  —  "  and  we  have  no 
need  of  food.  Yet  such  is  the  force  of  custom  that 
we  deaden  ourselves  for  the  day  by  tanking  up  on 
coarse,  loathsome  stuff  like  bacon.  Ugh !  Any  one 
would  think,  the  way  you  two  eat  so  early  in  the 
day,  that  you  were  a  couple  of  cave-dwellers,  —  the 
kind  that  always  loaded  up  when  they  had  a  chance 
because  it  might  be  a  week  before  they  got  another." 

He  drained  his  glass  and  brightened  visibly. 

"Now,  why  not  be  reasonable?"  he  continued, 
pleadingly.  "  You  know  there  is  plenty  of  food. 
1  have  observed  it  being  brought  into  town  in  huge 
wagon-loads  in  the  early  morning  on  many  occa 
sions.  Why  do  you  want  to  eat  it  all  at  one  sitting  ? 
No  one's  going  to  starve  you.  Why  stupefy  your 
selves  when,  by  a  little  nervy  self-denial,  you  can 
remain  as  fresh  and  bright  and  clear-headed  as  I 
am  at  this  moment?  Why  doesn't  a  fire  make 
its  own  escape,  Mrs.  Carstep- Jamwuddle ?  " 

"  I  don't  believe  you  feel  right,  either.  I  just 
know  you've  got  an  awful  headache  right  now.  Do 
let  the  man  give  you  a  nice  piece  of  this  steak." 


THE    SPENDERS  265 

''Don't,  I  beg  of  you,  Lady  Ashmorton!  The 
suggestion  is  extremely  repugnant  to  me.  Besides, 
I'm  behaving  this  way  because  I  arose  with  the 
purely  humourous  fancy  that  my  head  was  a 
fine  large  accordeon,  and  that  some  meddler  had 
drawn  it  out  too  far.  I'm  sportively  pretending 
that  I  can  press  it  back  into  shape.  Now  you  and 
sis  never  get  up  with  any  such  light  poetic  notion 
as  that.  You  know  you  don't  —  don't  attempt  to 
deceive  me."  He  glanced  over  the  table  with  swift 
disapproval. 

"  Strawberries,  oatmeal,  rolls,  steak  three  inches 
thick,  bacon,  omelette  —  oh,  that  I  should  live  to 
see  this  day !  It's  disgraceful !  And  at  your  age  — 
before  your  own  innocent  woman-child,  and  leading 
her  into  the  same  excesses.  Do  you  know  what  that 
breakfast  is?  No;  I'll  tell  you.  That  breakfast  is 
No.  78  in  that  book  of  Mrs.  Rorer's,  and  she 
expressly  warns  everybody  that  it  can  be  eaten 
safely  only  by  steeple-climbers,  piano-movers,  and 
sea-captains.  Really,  Mrs.  Wrangleberry,  I  blush 
for  you." 

"  I  don't  care  how  you  go  on.  You  ain't  looked 
\vell  for  months." 

"  But  think  of  my  great  big  heart  —  a  heart  like 
an  ox,"  -  he  seemed  on  the  verge  of  tears  —  "  and 
to  think  that  you,  a  woman  I  have  never  treated  with 
anything  but  respect  since  we  met  in  Honduras  in 
the  fall  of  '93  —  to  think  you  should  throw  it  up 
to  my  own  face  that  I'm  not  beautiful.  Others  there 
are,  thank  God,  who  can  look  into  a  man's  heart  and 


266  THE    SPENDERS 

prize  him  for  what  he  is  —  not  condemn  him  for  his 
mere  superficial  blemishes." 

"  And  I  just  know  you've  got  in  with  a  fast  set. 
I  met  Mr.  Milbrey  yesterday  in  the  corridor  - 

"  Did  he  tell  you  how  to  make  a  lovely  asparagus 
short-cake  or  something?" 

"  He  told  me  those  men  you  go  with  so  much 
are  dreadful  gamblers,  and  that  when  you  all  went 
to  Palm  Beach  last  February  you  played  poker  for 
money  night  and  day,  and  you  told  me  you  went 
for  your  health !  " 

"  Oh,  he  did,  did  he?  Well,  I  didn't  get  anything 
else.  He's  a  dear  old  soul,  if  you've  got  the  copper 
handy.  If  that  man  was  a  woman  he'd  be  a  warm 
neighbourhood  gossip.  He'd  be  the  nice  kind  old 
lady  that  starts  things,  that's  what  Hoddy  Mil 
brey  would  be." 

"  And  you  said  yourself  you  played  poker  most 
of  the  time  when  you  went  to  Aiken  on  the  car 
last  month." 

"  To  be  honest  with  you,  ma,  we  did  play  poker. 
Say,  they  took  it  off  of  me  so  fast  I  could  feel 
myself  catching  cold." 

"  There,  you  see  —  and  you  really  ought  to  wear 
one  of  those  chamois-skin  chest  protectors  in  this 
damp  climate." 

"  Well,  we'll  see.  If  I  can  find  one  that  an  ace- 
full  won't  go  through  I'll  snatch  it  so  quick  the 
man'll  think  he's  being  robbed.  Now  I'll  join  you 
ladies  to  the  extent  of  some  coffee,  and  then  I  want 
to  know  what  you  two  would  rather  do  this  summer 
than." 


THE    SPENDERS  267 

"  Of  course,"  said  Psyche,  "  no  one  stays  in  town 
in  summer." 

"  Exactly.  And  I've  chartered  a  steam  yacht  as 
big  as  this  hotel  —  all  but  —  But  what  I  want  to 
know  is  whether  you  two  care  to  bunk  on  it  or 
whether  you'd  rather  stay  quietly  at  some  place, 
Newport  perhaps,  and  maybe  take  a  cruise  with 
me  now  and  then." 

"  Oh,  that  would  be  good  fun.  But  here's  ma 
getting  so  I  can't  do  a  thing  with  her,  on  account  of 
all  those  beggars  and  horrid  people  down  in  the 
slums." 

Mrs.  Bines  looked  guilty  and  feebly  deprecating. 
It  was  quite  true  that  in  her  own  way  she  had 
achieved  a  reputation  for  prodigality  not  inferior 
to  that  acquired  by  her  children  in  ways  of  their 
own. 

"  You  know  it's  so,  ma,"  the  daughter  went  on, 
accusingly.  "  One  night  last  winter  when  you  were 
away  we  dined  at  the  Balldridge's,  in  Eighty-sixth 
Street,  and  the  pavements  were  so  sleety  the  horses 
couldn't  stand,  so  Colonel  Balldridge  brought  us 
home  in  the  Elevated,  about  eleven  o'clock.  Well,  at 
one  of  the  stations  a  big  policeman  got  on  with  a  little 
baby  all  wrapped  up  in  red  flannel.  He'd  found  it 
in  an  area-way,  nearly  covered  with  snow  —  where 
some  one  had  left  it,  and  he  was  taking  it  down  to 
police-headquarters,  he  said.  Well,  ma  went  crazy 
right  away.  She  made  him  undo  it,  and  then  she 
insisted  on  holding  it  all  the  way  doAvn  to  Thirty- 
third  Street.  One  man  said  it  might  be  President 


268  THE    SPENDERS 

of  the  United  States,  some  day;  and  Colonel  Ball- 
dridge  said,  '  Yes,  it  has  unknown  possibilities  —  it 
may  even  be  a  President's  wife  '  -  just  like  that. 
But  I  thought  ma  would  be  demented.  It  was  all 
fat  and  so  warm  and  sleepy  it  could  hardly  hold  its 
eyes  open,  and  I  believe  she'd  have  kept  it  then  and 
there  if  the  policeman  would  have  let  her.  She 
made  him  promise  to  get  it  a  bottle  of  warm  milk 
the  first  thing,  and  borrowed  twenty  dollars  of  the 
colonel  to  give  to  the  policeman  to  get  it  things  with, 
and  then  all  the  way  down  she  talked  against  the 
authorities  for  allowing  such  things  —  as  if  they 
could  help  it  —  and  when  we  got  home  she  cried  - 
you  know  you  did,  ma  —  and  you  pretended  it  was 
toothache  —  and  ever  since  then  she's  been  per 
fectly  daft  about  babies.  Why,  whenever  she  sees 
a  woman  going  along  with  one  she  thinks  the  poor 
thing  is  going  to  leave  it  some  place;  and  now 
she's  in  with  those  charity  workers  and  says  she 
won't  leave  New  York  at  all  this  summer.'' 

"  I  don't  care,"  protested  the  guilty  mother,  "  it 
would  have  frozen  to  death  in  just  a  little  while,  and 
it's  done  so  often.  Why,  up  at  the  Catholic  Pro 
tectory  they  put  out  a  basket  at  the  side  door,  so 
a  body  can  leave  their  baby  in  it  and  ring  the  bell 
and  run  away ;  and  they  get  one  twice  a  week 
sometimes ;  and  this  was  such  a  sweet,  fat  little 
baby  with  big  blue  eyes,  and  its  forehead  wrinkled, 
and  it  was  all  puckered  up  around  its  little  nose  — 

"  And  that  isn't  the  worst  of  it,"  the  relentless 
daughter  broke  in.  "  She  gets  begging  letters  by 


THE    SPENDERS  269 

the  score  and  gives  money  to  all  sorts  of  people, 
and  a  man  from  the  Charities  Organisation,  who 
had  heard  about  it,  came  and  warned  her  that  they 
were  impostors  —  only  she  doesn't  care.  Do  you 
know,  there  was  a  poor  old  blind  woman  with  a 
dismal,  wheezy  organ  down  at  Broadway  and 
Twenty-third  Street  —  the  organ  would  hardly  play 
at  all,  and  just  one  wretched  tune  —  only  the  woman 
wasn't  blind  at  all  we  found  out  —  and  ma  bought 
her  a  nice  new  organ  that  cost  seventy-five  dollars 
and  had  it  taken  up  to  her.  Well,  she  found  out 
through  this  man  from  the  Organisation  that  the 
woman  had  pawned  the  new  organ  for  twenty 
dollars  and  was  still  playing  on  the  old  one.  She 
didn't  want  a  new  one  because  it  was  too  cheerful; 
it  didn't  make  people  sad  when  they  heard  it,  like 
her  old  one  did.  And  yesterday  ma  bought  an 
Indian  - 

"  A  what  ?  "  asked  her  brother,  in  amazement. 

"  An  Indian  —  a  tobacco  sign." 

'You  don't  mean  it?  One  of  those  lads  that 
stand  out  in  front  and  peer  under  their  hands  to 
see  what  palefaces  are  moving  into  the  house 
across  the  street?  Say,  ma,  what  you  going  to  do 
with  him?  There  isn't  much  room  here,  you  know." 

"  I  didn't  buy  him  for  myself,"  replied  Mrs. 
Bines,  with  dignity ;  "  I  wouldn't  want  such  an 
object." 

"  She  bought  it,"  explained  his  sister,  "  for  an 
Italian  woman  who  keeps  a  little  tobacco-shop  down 
in  Rivington  Street.  A  man  goes  around  to  repaint 


270  rHE   SPENDERS 

them,  you  know,  but  hers  was  so  battered  that  this 
man  told  her  it  wasn't  worth  painting  again,  and 
she'd  better  get  another,  and  the  woman  said  she 
didn't  know  what  to  do  because  they  cost  twenty- 
five  dollars  and  one  doesn't  last  very  long.  The  bad 
boys  whittle  him  and  throw  him  down,  and  the 
people  going  along  the  street  put  their  shoes  up 
to  tie  them  and  step  on  his  feet,  and  they  scratch 
matches  on  his  face,  and  when  she  goes  out  and 
says  that  isn't  right  they  tell  her  she's  too  fresh. 
And  so  ma  gave  her  twenty-five  dollars  for  a  new 
one." 

"  But  she  has  to  support  five  children,  and  her 
husband  hasn't  been  able  to  work  for  three  years, 
since  he  fell  through  a  fire-escape  where  he  was 
sleeping  one  hot  night,"  pleaded  Mrs.  Bines,  "  and 
I  think  I'd  rather  stay  here  th'is  summer.  Just 
think  of  all  those  poor  babies  when  the  weather 
gets  hot.  I  never  thought  there  \vere  so  many 
babies  in  the  world." 

"  Well,  have  your  own  way,"  said  her  son.  "  If 
you've  started  out  to  look  after  all  the  babies  in 
New  York  you  won't  have  any  time  left  to  play 
the  races,  I'll  promise  you  that." 

"  Why,  my  son,  I  never  — 

"  But  sis  here  would  probably  rather  do  other 
things." 

"  I   think,"   said   Psyche,    "  I'd   like   Newport  - 
Mrs.  Drelmer  says  I  shouldn't  think  of  going  any 
place  else.     Only,  of  course,  I  can't  go  there  alone. 
She  says  she  would  be  glad  to  chaperone  me,  but 


THE    SPENDERS  271 

her  husband  hasn't  had  a  very  good  year  in  Wall 
Street,  and  she's  afraid  she  won't  be  able  to  go 
herself." 

"  Maybe,"  began  Mrs.  Bines,  "  if  you'd  offer  —  " 

"  Oh !    she'd  be  offended,"  exclaimed  Psyche. 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  of  that,"  said  her  brother,  "  not 
if  you  suggest  it  in  the  right  way  —  put  it  on  the 
ground  that  you'll  be  quite  helpless  without  her, 
and  that  she'd  oblige  you  world  without  end  and  all 
that.  The  more  I  see  of  people  here  the  more  I 
think  they're  quite  reasonable  in  little  matters  like 
that.  They  look  at  them  in  the  right  light.  Just 
lead  up  to  it  delicately  with  Mrs.  Drelmer  and  see. 
Then  if  she's  willing  to  go  with  you,  your  summer 
will  be  provided  for;  except  that  we  shall  both  have 
to  look  in  upon  Mrs.  Juzzlebraggin  here  now  and 
then  to  see  that  she  doesn't  overplay  the  game  and 
get  sick  herself,  and  make  sure  that  they  don't  get 
her  vaccination  mark  away  from  her.  And,  ma, 
you'll  have  to  come  off  on  the  yacht  once  or  twice, 
just  to  give  it  tone." 

It  appeared  that  Percival  had  been  right  in  sup 
posing  that  Mrs.  Drelmer  might  be  led  to  regard 
Psyche's  proposal  in  a  light  entirely  rational.  She 
was  reluctant,  at  first,  it  is  true. 

"  It's  awfully  dear  of  you  to  ask  me,  child,  but 
really,  I'm  afraid  it  will  be  quite  impossible.  Oh! 
-  for  reasons  which  you,  of  course,  with  your 
endless  bank-account,  cannot  at  all  comprehend. 
You  see  we  old  New  York  families  have  a  secure 
position  here  by  right  of  birth;  and  even  when  we 


272  THE    SPENDERS 

are  forced  to  practise  little  economies  in  dress  and 
household  management  it  doesn't  count  against  us 
—  so  long  as  we  stay  here.  Now,  Newport  is  dif 
ferent.  One  cannot  economise  gracefully  there  — 
not  even  one  of  us.  There  are  quiet  and  very 
decent  places  for  those  of  us  that  must.  But  at 
Newport  one  must  not  fall  behind  in  display.  A 
sense  of  loyalty  to  the  others,  a  noblesse  oblige,  com 
pels  one  to  be  as  lavish  as  those  flamboyant  outsiders 
who  go  there.  One  doesn't  want  them  to  report, 
you  know,  that  such  and  such  families  of  our  smart 
set  are  falling  behind  for  lack  of  means.  So,  while 
we  of  the  real  stock  are  chummy  enough  here, 
where  there  is  only  us  in  a  position  to  observe  our 
selves,  there  is  a  sort  of  tacit  agreement  that  only 
those  shall  go  to  Newport  who  are  able  to  keep 
up  the  pace.  One  need  not,  for  one  season  or  so, 
be  a  cottager;  but,  for  example,  in  the  matter  of 
dress,  one  must  be  sinfully  lavish.  Really,  child, 
I  could  spend  three  months  in  the  Engadine  for 
the  price  of  one  decent  month  at  Newport;  the 
parasols,  gloves,  fans,  shoes,  '  frillies  '  —  enough 
to  stock  the  Rue  de  la  Paix,  to  say  nothing  of 
gowns  —  but  why  do  I  run  on  ?  Here  am  I  with 
a  few  little  simple  summer  things,  fit  enough  indeed 
for  the  quiet  place  we  shall  reach  for  July  and 
August,  but  ab-so-lute-ly  impossible  for  Newport  — 
so  say  no  more  about  it,  dear.  You're  a  sweet  - 
but  it's  madness  to  think  of  it." 

"  And  I  had,"  reported  Psyche  to  her  mother  that 
night,  "  such  a  time  getting  her  to  agree.     At  first 


THE    SPENDERS  273 

she  wouldn't  listen  at  all.  Then,  after  I'd  just  fairly 
begged  her,  she  admitted  she  might  because  she's 
taken  such  a  fancy  to  me  and  hates  to  leave  me  - 
but  she  was  sensitive  about  what  people  might  say. 
I  told  her  they'd  never  have  a  chance  to  say  a  word ; 
and  she  was  anxious  Perce  shouldn't  know,  because 
she  says  he's  so  cynical  about  New  York  people 
since  that  Milbrey  girl  made  such  a  set  for  him ; 
and  at  last  she  called  me  a  dear  and  consented, 
though  she'd  been  looking  forward  to  a  quiet 
summer.  To-morrow  early  we  start  out  for  the 
shops." 

So  it  came  that  the  three  members  of  the  Bines 
family  pursued  during  the  summer  their  respective 
careers  of  diversion  under  conditions  most  satis 
factory  to  each. 

The  steam  yacht  Vilnca,  chartered  by  Percival, 
was  put  into  commission  early  in  June.  Her  first 
cruise  of  ten  days  was  a  signal  triumph.  His  eight 
guests  were  the  men  with  whom  he  had  played 
poker  so  tirelessly  during  the  winter.  Perhaps  the 
most  illuminating  log  of  that  cruise  may  be  found  in 
the  reply  of  one  of  them  whom  Percival  invited  for 
another  early  in  July. 

"  Much  obliged,  old  man,  but  I  haven't  touched 
a  drop  nowr  in  over  three  weeks.  My  doctor  says 
I  must  let  it  be  for  at  least  two  months,  and  I  mean 
to  stick  by  him.  Awfully  kind  of  you,  though !  " 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

The  Sight  of  a  New  Beauty,  and  Some  Advice 
from  Higbee 

FROM  the  landing  on  a  still  morning  in  late 
July,  Mrs.  Drelmer  surveyed  the  fleet  of  sail 
ing  and  steam  yachts  at  anchor  in  Newport 
harbour.  She  was  beautifully  and  expensively 
gowned  in  nun's  grey  chiffon;  her  toque  was  of 
chiffon  and  lace,  and  she  held  a  pale  grey  parasol, 
its  ivory  handle  studded  with  sapphires.  She  fixed 
a  glass  upon  one  of  the  white,  sharp-nosed  steam 
yachts  that  rode  in  the  distance  near  Goat  Island. 

"  Can  you  tell  me  if  that's  the  Viluca  ? "  she 
asked  a  sailor  landing  from  a  dinghy,  "  that  boat 
just  astern  of  the  big  schooner?'' 

"  No  ma'am ;  that's  the  Alia,  Commodore  Week- 
ford." 

"  Looking  for  some  one?  "  inquired  a  voice,  and 
she  turned  to  greet  Fred  Milbrey  descending  the 
steps. 

"  Oh  !  Good-morning !  yes ;  but  they've  not  come 
in,  evidently.  It's  the  Viluca  —  Mr.  Bines,  you 
know;  he's  bringing  his  sister  back  to  me.  And 
you?" 

"  I'm  expecting  the  folks  on  Shepler's  craft. 
274 


THE    SPENDERS  275 

Been  out  two  weeks  now,  and  were  to  have  come 
down  from  New  London  last  night.  They're  not 
in  sight  either.  Perhaps  the  gale  last  night  kept 
them  back." 

Mrs.  Drelmer  glanced  above  to  where  some  one 
seemed  to  be  w*aiting  for  him. 

"Who's  your  perfectly  gorgeous  companion? 
You've  been  so  devoted  to  her  for  three  days  that 
you've  hardly  bowed  to  old  friends.  Don't  you 
want  her  to  know  any  one  ?  " 

The  young  man  laughed  with  an  air  of  great 
shrewdness. 

"  Come,  now,  Mrs.  Drelmer,  you're  too  good  a 
friend  of  Mauburn's  —  about  his  marrying,  I  mean. 
You  fixed  him  to  tackle  me  low  the  very  first  half 
of  one  game  we  know  about,  right  when  I  was 
making  a  fine  run  down  the  field,  too.  I'm  going 
to  have  better  interference  this  time." 

"  Silly !  Your  chances  are  quite  as  good  as  his 
there  this  moment." 

"  You  may  think  so ;  I  know  better." 

"  And  of  course,  in  any  other  affair,  I'd  never 
think  of- 

"  P'r'aps  so ;  but  I'd  rather  not  chance  it  just 
yet." 

"  But  who  is  she?  What  a  magnificent  mop  of 
hair.  It's  like  that  rich  piece  of  ore  Mr.  Bines 
showed  us,  with  copper  and  gold  in  it." 

"  Well,  I  don't  mind  telling  you  she's  the  widow 
of  a  Southern  gentleman,  Colonel  Brench  Wybert." 

"  Ah,  indeed !     I  did  notice  that  two-inch  band 


276  THE    SPENDERS 

of  black  at  the  bottom  of  her  accordeon-plaited 
petticoat.  I'll  wager  that's  a  Rue  de  la  Paix  idea 
of  mourning  for  one's  dead  husband.  And  she 
confides  her  grief  to  the  world  with  such  charming 
discretion.  Half  the  New  York  women  can't  hold 
their  skirts  up  as  daintily  as  she  does  it.  I  dare  say, 
now,  her  tears  could  be  dried  ?  —  by  the  right  com 
forter?" 

Milbrey  looked  important. 

"  And  I  don't  mind  telling  you  the  late  Colonel 
Brench  Wybert  left  her  a  fortune  made  in  Mon 
tana  copper.  Can't  say  how  much,  but  two  weeks 
ago  she  asked  the  governor's  advice  about  where 
to  put  a  spare  million  and  a  half  in  cash.  Not  so 
bad,  eh?" 

"  Oh,  this  new  plutocracy !  Where  do  they  get 
it?" 

"How  old,  now,  should  you  say  she  was?" 

Mrs.  Drelmer  glanced  up  again  at  the  colour- 
scheme  of  heliotrope  seated  in  a  victoria  uphol 
stered  in  tan  brocade. 

"  Thirty-five,  I  should  say  —  about." 

"  Just  twenty-eight." 

"  Just  about  what  I  should  say  —  she'd  say." 

"  Come  now,  you  women  can't  help  it,  can  you? 
But  you  can't  deny  she's  stunning?  " 

"  Indeed  I  can't !  She's  a  beauty  —  and,  good 
luck  to  you.  Is  that  the  Viluca  coming  in?  No; 
it  has  two  stacks;  and  it's  not  your  people  because 
the  Lotus  is  black.  I  shall  go  back  to  the  hotel. 
Bertie  Trafford  brought  me  over  on  the  trolley. 


THE    SPENDERS  277 

I  must  find  him  first  and  do  an  errand  in  Thames 
Street." 

At  the  head  of  the  stairs  they  parted,  Milbrey 
joining  the  lady  who  had  waited  for  him. 

Hers  was  a  person  to  gladden  the  eye.  Her  figure, 
tall  and  full,  was  of  a  graceful  and  abundant  per 
fection  of  contours ;  her  face,  precisely  carved  and 
showing  the  faintly  generous  rounding  of  maturity, 
was  warm  in  colouring,  with  dark  eyes,  well  shaded 
and  languorous;  her  full  lips  betrayed  their  beauty 
in  a  ready  and  fascinating  laugh;  her  voice  was  a 
rich,  warm  contralto ;  and  her  speech  bore  just  a 
hint  of  the  soft  r-less  drawl  of  the  South. 

She  had  blazed  into  young  Milbrey's  darkness 
one  night  in  the  palm-room  of  the  Hightower  Hotel, 
escorted  by  a  pleased  and  beefy  youth  of  his  acquaint 
ance,  who  later  told  him  of  their  meeting  at  the 
American  Embassy  in  Paris,  and  who  unsuspect 
ingly  presented  him.  Since  their  meeting  the  young 
man  had  been  her  abject  cavalier.  The  elder  Mil 
brey,  too,  had  met  her  at  his  son's  suggestion.  He 
had  been  as  deeply  impressed  by  her  helplessness 
in  the  matter  of  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  of  idle 
funds  as  she  had  been  by  his  aristocratic  bearing 
and  enviable  position  in  New  York  society. 

"  Sorry  to  have  kept  you  waiting.  The  Lotus 
hasn't  come  in  sight  yet.  Let's  loaf  over  to  the 
beach  and  have  some  tall,  cold  ones." 

"  Who  was  your  elderly  friend  ?  "  she  asked,  as 
they  were  driven  slowly  up  the  old-fashioned  street. 

"  Oh !   that's  Joe  Drelmer.     She's  not  so  old,  you 


278  THE    SPENDERS 

know ;  not  a  day  over  forty,  Joe  can't  be ;  fine  old 
stock;  she  was  a  Leydenbroek  and  her  husband's 
family  is  one  of  the  very  oldest  in  New  York.  Aw 
fully  exclusive.  Down  to  meet  friends,  but  they'd 
not  showrn  up,  either.  That  reminds  me;  they're 
friends  of  ours,  too,  and  I  must  have  you  meet  them. 
They're  from  your  part  of  the  country  —  the  Bines." 

"  The  —  ah  - 

"  Bines ;  family  from  Montana ;  decent  enough 
sort;  didn't  know  but  you  might  have  heard  of 
them,  being  from  your  part  of  the  country." 

"  Ah,  I  never  think  of  that  vulgar  West  as  '  my 
part  of  the  country  '  at  all.  My  part  is  dear  old 
Virginia,  where  my  father,  General  Tulver,  and  his 
father  and  his  father's  father  all  lived  the  lives  of 
country  gentlemen,  after  the  family  came  here  from 
Devonshire.  It  was  there  Colonel  Wybert  wooed 
me,  though  we  later  removed  to  New  Orleans." 
Mrs.  Wybert  called  it  "  New  ^w-leens." 

"  But  it  was  not  until  my  husband  became  inter 
ested  in  Montana  mines  that  we  ventured  into  that 
horrid  West.  So  do  remember  not  to  confound  me 
with  your  Western  —  ah  —  Bones,  —  was  it  not  ?  " 

"  No,  Bines ;  they'll  be  here  presently,  and  you 
can  meet  them,  anyway." 

"  Is  there  an  old  fellow  —  a  queer  old  character, 
with  them?" 

"  No,  only  a  son  and  daughter  and  the  mother." 

"  Of  course  I  sha'n't  mind  meeting  any  friends 
of  yours,"  she  said,  with  charming  graciousness, 
"  but,  really,  I  always  understood  that  you  Knicker- 


THE    SPENDERS  279 

bockers  were  so  vastly  more  exclusive.  I  do  recall 
this  name  now.  I  remember  hearing  tales  of  the 
family  in  Spokane.  They're  a  type,  you  know. 
One  sees  many  of  the  sort  there.  They  make  a 
strike  in  the  mines  and  set  up  ridiculous  establish 
ments  regardless  of  expense.  You  see  them  riding 
in  their  carriages  with  two  men  in  the  box  —  red- 
handed,  grizzled  old  vulgarians  who've  roughed  it 
in  the  mountains  for  twenty  years  with  a  pack-mule 
and  a  ham  and  a  pick-axe  —  with  their  jug  of  whis 
key  —  and  their  frowsy  red-faced  wives  decked  out 
in  impossible  finery.  Yes,  I  do  recall  this  family. 
There  is  a  daughter,  you  say?  " 

"  Yes  ;    Miss  Psyche  Bines." 

"Psyche;  ah,  yes;  it's  the  same  family.  I 
recollect  perfectly  now.  You  know  they  tell  the 
funniest  tales  of  them  out  there.  Her  mother  found 
the  name  '  Psyche  '  in  a  book,  and  liked  it,  but  she 
pronounced  it  '  Pishy,'  and  so  the  girl  was  called 
until  she  became  old  enough  to  go  to  school  and 
learned  better." 

"Dear  me;    fancy  now!" 

"  And  there  are  countless  tales  of  the  mother's 
queer  sayings.  Once  a  gentleman  whom  they  were 
visiting  in  San  Francisco  was  showing  her  a  cabi 
net  of  curios.  '  Now,  don't  you  find  the  Pompeiian 
figurines  exquisite?  '  he  asked  her.  The  poor  crea 
ture,  after  looking  around  her  helplessly,  declared 
that  she  did  like  them ;  but  that  she  liked  the  Cali 
fornia  nectarines  better  —  they  were  so  much 
juicier." 


280  THE    SPENDERS 

"  You  don't  tell  me;  gad!  that  was  a  good  one. 
Oh,  well,  she's  a  meek,  harmless  old  soul,  and  really, 
my  family's  not  the  snobbish  sort,  you  know." 

In  from  the  shining  sea  late  that  afternoon 
steamed  the  Vlluca.  As  her  chain  was  rattling 
through  the  hawse-hole,  Percival,  with  his  sister  and 
Mauburn,  came  on  deck. 

"  Why,  there's  the  Chicago  —  Higbee's  yacht." 

"  That's  the  boat,"  said  Mauburn,  "  that's  been 
piling  the  \vhite  water  up  in  front  of  her  all  after 
noon  trying  to  overhaul  us." 

"  There's  Millie  Higbee  and  old  Silas,  now." 

"  And,  as  I  live,"  exclaimed  Psyche,  "  there's  the 
Baron  de  Palliac  between  them !  " 

"  Sure  enough,"  said  her  brother.  "  We  must  call 
ma  up  to  see  him  dressed  in  those  sweet,  pretty 
yachting  flannels.  Oh,  there  you  are !  "  as  Mrs. 
Bines  joined  them.  "  Just  take  this  glass  and 
treat  yourself  to  a  look  at  your  old  friend,  the  baron. 
You'll  notice  he  has  one  on  —  see  —  they're  waving 
to  us." 

"  Doesn't  the  baron  look  just  too  distinguished 
beside  Mr.  Higbee?"  said  Psyche,  watching  them. 

"  And  doesn't  Higbee  look  just  too  Chicago  beside 
the  baron?  "  replied  her  brother. 

The  Higbee  craft  cut  her  way  gracefully  up  to 
an  anchorage  near  the  Viluca,  and  launches  from 
both  yachts  now  prepared  to  land  their  people.  At 
the  landing  Percival  telephoned  for  a  carriage. 
While  they  were  waiting  the  Higbee  party  came 
ashore. 


THE    SPENDERS  281 

"  Hello!  "  said  Higbee;  "  if  I'd  known  that  was 
you  we  was  chasing  I'd  have  put  on  steam  and  left 
you  out  of  sight." 

"  It's  much  better  you  didn't  recognise  us;  these 
boiler  explosions  are  so  messy." 

"  Know  the  baron  here?  " 

"  Of  course  we  know  the  baron.     Ah,  baron!  " 

"  Ah,  ha !  very  charmed,  Mr.  Bines  and  Miss 
Bines ;  it  is  of  a  long  time  that  we  are  not 
encountered.'' 

He  was  radiant ;  they  had  never  before  seen  him 
thus.  Mrs.  Higbee  hovered  near  him  with  an  air 
of  proud  ownership.  Pretty  Millie  Higbee  posed 
gracefully  at  her  side. 

"  This  your  carriage?  "  asked  Higbee;  "  I  must 
telephone  for  one  myself.  Going  to  the  Mayson? 
So  are  we.  See  you  again  to-night.  We're  off 
for  Bar  Harbour  early  to-morrow." 

"  Looks  as  if  there  were  something  doing  there," 
said  Percival,  as  they  drove  off  the  wharf. 

"Of  course,  stupid!"  said  his  sister;  "that's 
plain ;  only  it  isn't  doing,  it's  already  done.  Isn't 
it  funny,  ma?  " 

"  For  a  French  person,"  observed  Mrs.  Bines, 
guardedly,  "  I  always  liked  the  baron." 

"  Of  course,"  said  her  son,  to  Mauburn's  mysti 
fication,  "  and  the  noblest  men  on  this  earth  have 
to  wear  'em." 

The  surmise  regarding  the  Baron  de  Palliac  and 
Millie  Higbee  proved  to  be  correct.  Percival  came 
upon  Higbee  in  the  meditative  enjoyment  of  his 
after-dinner  cigar,  out  on  the  broad  piazza.. 


282  THE    SPENDERS 

"I  s'pose  you're  on,"  he  began;  "the  girl's 
engaged  to  that  Frenchy." 

"  I  congratulate  him,"  said  Percival,  heartily. 

"  A  real  baron,"  continued  Higbee.  "  I  looked 
him  up  and  made  sure  of  that ;  title's  good  as  wheat. 
God  knows  that  never  would  'a'  got  me,  but  the 
madam  was  set  on  it,  and  the  girl  too,  and  I  had 
to  give  in.  It  seemed  to  be  a  question  of  him  or 
some  actor.  The  madam  said  I'd  had  my  way  about 
Hank,  puttin'  his  poor  stubby  nose  to  the  grindstone 
out  there  in  Chicago,  and  makin'  a  plain  insignificant 
business  man  out  of  him,  and  I'd  ought  to  let  her 
have  her  way  with  the  girl,  being  that  I  couldn't 
expect  her  to  go  to  work  too.  So  Mil  will  work 
the  society  end.  I  says  to  the  madam,  I  says,  '  All 
right,  have  your  own  way;  and  we'll  see  whether 
you  make  more  out  of  the  girl  than  I  make  out  of 
the  boy,'  I  says.  But  it  ain't  going  to  be  all  digging 
up.  I've  made  the  baron  promise  to  go  into  business 
wTith  me,  and  though  I  ain't  told  him  yet,  I'm  going 
to  put  out  a  line  of  Higbee's  thin-sliced  ham  and 
bacon  in  glass  jars  with  his  crest  on  'em  for  the 
French  trade.  This  baron'll  cost  me  more'n  that 
sign  I  showed  you  coming  out  of  the  old  town,  and 
he  won't  give  any  such  returns,  but  the  crest  on 
them  jars,  printed  in  three  colours  and  gold,  will 
be  a  bully  ad;  and  it  kept  the  women  quiet,"  he 
concluded,  apologetically. 

"  The  baron's  a  good  fellow,"  said  Percival. 

"  Sure,"  replied  Higbee.  "  They're  all  good 
fellows.  Hank  had  the  makin's  of  a  good  fellow 


THE    SPENDERS  283 

in  him.  And  say,  young  man,  that  reminds  me;  I 
hear  all  kinds  of  reports  about  your  getting  to  be 
one  yourself.  Now  I  knew  your  father,  Daniel  J. 
Bines,  and  I  liked  him,  and  I  like  you;  and  I  hope 
you  won't  get  huffy,  but  from  what  they  tell  me  you 
ain't  doing  yourself  a  bit  of  good." 

"  Don't  believe  all  you  hear,"  laughed  Percival. 

''  Well,  I'll  tell  you  one  thing  plain,  if  you  was 
my  son,  you'd  fade  right  back  to  the  packing-house 
along  with  Henry-boy.  It's  a  pity  you  ain't  got 
some  one  to  shut  down  on  you  that  way.  They 
tell  me  you  got  your  father's  capacity  for  carrying 
liquor,  and  I  hear  you're  known  from  one  end  of 
Broadway  to  the  other  as  the  easiest  mark  that  ever 
came  to  town.  They  say  you  couldn't  walk  in  your 
sleep  without  spending  money.  Now,  excuse  my 
plain  speaking,  but  them  are  two  reputations  that 
are  mighty  hard  to  live  up  to  beyond  a  certain  limit. 
They've  put  lots  of  good  weight-carriers  off  the 
track  before  they  was  due  to  go.  I  hear  you  got 
pinched  in  that  wheat  deal  of  Burman's?" 

"  Oh,  only  for  a  few  hundred  thousand.  The 
reports  of  our  losses  were  exaggerated.  And  we 
stood  to  win  over  —  " 

'  Yes  —  you  stood  to  win,  and  then  you  went 
'  way  back  and  set  down,'  as  the  saying  is.  But  it 
ain't  the  money.  You've  got  too  much  of  that, 
anyway,  Lord  knows.  It's  this  everlasting  hulla 
baloo  and  the  drink  that  goes  with  it,  and  the  gen 
eral  trifling  sort  of  a  dub  it  makes  out  of  a  young 
fellow.  It's  a  pity  you  ain't  my  son ;  that's  all  I  got 


284  THE    SPENDERS 

to  say.  I  want  to  see  you  again  along  in  September 
after  I  get  back  from  San  Francisco;  I'm  going 
to  try  to  get  you  interested  in  some  business.  That'd 
be  good  for  you." 

"  You're  kind,  Mr.  Higbee,  and  really  I  appre 
ciate  all  you  say;  but  you'll  see  me  settle  down 
pretty  soon,  quick  as  I  get  my  bearings,  and  be  a 
credit  to  the  State  of  Montana." 

"  I  say,"  said  Mauburn,  coming  up,  "  do  you  see 
that  angel  of  the  flaming  hair  with  that  young 
Milbrey  chap  ?  " 

The  two  men  gazed  where  he  was  indicating. 

"  By  Jove !  she  is  a  stunner,  isn't  she  ?  "  exclaimed 
Percival. 

"  Might  be  one  of  Shepler's  party,"  suggested 
Higbee.  "  He  has  the  Milbrey  family  out  with  him, 
and  I  see  they  landed  awhile  ago.  You  can  bet 
that  party's  got  more  than  her  good  looks,  if  the 
Milbreys  are  taking  any  interest  in  her.  Well,  I've 
got  to  take  the  madam  and  the  young  folks  over 
to  the  Casino.  So  long !  " 

Fred  Milbrey  came  up. 

"Hello,   you   fellows!" 

"  Who  is  she?  "  asked  the  two  in  faultless  chorus. 

"  We're  going  over  to  hear  the  music  awhile. 
Come  along  and  I'll  present  you." 

"  Rot  the  luck!  "  said  Mauburn;  "  I'm  slated  to 
take  Mrs.  Drelmer  and  Miss  Bines  to  a  musicale 
at  the  Van  Lorrecks,  where  I'm  certain  to  fall  asleep 
trying  to  look  as  if  I  quite  liked  it,  you  know." 

"  You  come,"  Milbrey  urged  Percival.  "  My 
sister's  there  and  the  governor  and  mother." 


THE    SPENDERS  285 

But  for  the  moment  Percival  was  reflecting,  going 
over  in  his  mind  the  recent  homily  of  Higbee. 
Higbee's  opinion  of  the  Milbreys  also  came  back  to 
him. 

"  Sorry,  old  man,  but  I've  a  headache,  so  you 
must  excuse  me  for  to-night.  But  I'll  tell  you, 
we'll  all  come  over  in  the  morning  and  go  for  a 
clip  with  you." 

"  Good !  Stop  for  us  at  the  Laurels,  about 
eleven,  or  p'r'aps  I'll  stroll  over  and  get  you.  I'm 
expecting  some  mail  to  be  forwarded  to  this 
hotel." 

He  rejoined  his  companion,  who  had  been  chat 
ting  with  a  group  of  women  near  the  door,  and 
they  walked  away. 

"  Isn't  she  a  stunner!  "  exclaimed  Mauburn. 

"She  is  a  peach!"  replied  Percival,  in  tones  of 
deliberate  and  intense  conviction.  "  Whoever  she 
is,  I'll  meet  her  to-morrow  and  ask  her  what  she 
means  by  pretending  to  see  anything  in  Milbrey. 
This  thing  has  gone  too  far!  " 

Mauburn  looked  wistful  but  said  nothing.  After 
he  had  gone  away  with  Mrs.  Drelmer  and  Psyche, 
who  soon  came  for  him,  Percival  still  sat  revolving 
the  paternal  warnings  of  Higbee.  He  considered 
them  seriously.  He  decided  he  ought  to  think  more 
about  what  he  was  doing  and  what  he  should  do. 
He  decided,  too,  that  he  could  think  better  with 
something  mechanical  to  occupy  his  hands.  He 
took  a  cab  and  was  driven  to  the  local  branch  of 
his  favourite  temple  of  chance.  His  host  welcomed 
him  at  the  door. 


286  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Bines,  a  little  recreation,  eh  ?  Your 
favourite  dealer,  Dutson,  is  here  to-night,  if  you 
prefer  bank." 

Passing  through  the  crowded,  brightly-lighted 
rooms  to  one  of  the  faro  tables,  where  his  host 
promptly  secured  a  seat  for  him,  he  played  medi 
tatively  until  one  o'clock;  adding  materially  to  his 
host's  reasons  for  believing  he  had  done  wisely  to 
follow  his  New  York  clients  to  their  summer  annex. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

Horace  Milbrey   Upholds  the  Dignity  of  His  House 

IN  the  shade  of  the  piazza  at  the  Hotel  Mayson 
next  morning  there  was  a  sorting  out  of  the 
mail  that  had  been  forwarded  from  the  hotel 
in  New  York.  The  mail  of  Mrs.  Bines  was  a 
joy  to  her  son.  There  were  three  conventional 
begging  letters,  heart-breaking  in  their  pathos,  and 
composed  with  no  mean  literary  skill.  There  was 
a  letter  from  one  of  the  maids  at  the  Hightower  for 
whose  mother  Mrs.  Bines  had  secured  employment 
in  the  family  of  a  friend ;  a  position,  complained  the 
daughter,  "  in  which  she  finds  constant  hard  labour 
caused  by  the  quantity  expected  of  her  to  attend 
to."  There  was  also  a  letter  from  the  lady's 
employer,  saying  she  would  not  so  much  mind  her 
laziness  if  she  did  not  aggravate  it  by  drink.  Mrs. 
Bines  sighed  despairingly  for  the  recalcitrant. 

"  And  who's  this  wants  more  help  until  her  hus 
band's  profession  picks  up  again  ?  "  asked  Percival. 

"  Oh,  that's  a  poor  little  woman  I  helped.    They 
call  her  husband  '  the  Terrible  Iceman.'  ' 

"  But  this  is  just  the  season  for  icemen !  " 

"  Well,"    confessed    his    mother,    with    manifest 
reluctance,  "  he's  a  prize-fighter  or  something." 

287 


288  THE    SPENDERS 

Percival  gasped. 

"  —  and  he  had  a  chance  to  make  some  money, 
only  the  man  he  fought  against  had  some  of  his 
friends  drug  this  poor  fellow  before  their  —  their 
meeting  —  and  so  of  course  he  lost.  If  he  hadn't 
been  drugged  he  would  have  won  the  money,  and 
now  there's  a  law  passed  against  it,  and  of  course 
it  isn't  a  very  nice  trade,  but  I  think  the  law  ought 
to  be  changed.  He's  got  to  live." 

"  I  don't  see  why;  not  if  he's  the  man  I  saw 
box  one  night  last  winter.  He  didn't  have  a  single 
excuse  for  living.  And  what  are  these  tickets,  - 
'  Grand  Annual  Outing  and  Games  of  the  Egg- 
Candlers  &  Butter  Drivers'  Association  at  Sulzer's 
Harlem  River  Park.  Ticket  Admitting  Lady  and 
Gent,  One  dollar.'  Heavens!  What  is  it?" 

"  I  promised  to  take  ten  tickets,"  said  Mrs.  Bines. 
"  I  must  send  them  a  check." 

"But  what  are  they?"  her  son  insisted;  "  egg- 
candlers  may  be  all  right,  but  what  are  butter- 
drivers  ?  Are  you  quite  sure  it's  respectable  ?  Why, 
I  ask  you,  should  an  honest  man  wish  to  drive 
butter?  That  shows  you  what  life  in  a  great  city 
does  for  the  morally  weak.  Look  out  you  don't  get 
mixed  up  in  it  yourself,  that's  all  I  ask.  They'll 
have  you  driving  butter  first  thing  you  know. 
Thank  heaven!  thus  far  no  Bines  has  ever  candled 
an  egg  —  and  as  for  driving  butter  —  "  he  stopped, 
with  a  shudder  of  extreme  repugnance. 

"  And  here's  a  notice  about  the  excursions  of  the 
St.  John's  Guild.  I've  been  on  four  already,  and 


THE    SPENDERS  289 

I  want  you  to  get  me  back  to  New  York  right  away 
for  the  others.  If  you  could  only  see  all  those 
babies  we  take  out  on  the  floating  hospital,  with 
two  men  in  little  boats  behind  to  pick  up  those  that 
fall  overboard  —  and  really  it's  a  wonder  any  of 
them  live  through  the  summer  in  that  cruel  city. 
Down  in  Hester  Street  the  other  day  four  of  them 
had  a  slice  of  watermelon  from  Mr.  Slivinsky's 
stand  on  the  corner,  and  when  I  saw  them  they 
were  actually  eating  the  hard,  green  rind.  It  was 
enough  to  kill  a  horse." 

"  Well,  have  your  own  fun,"  said  her  son,  cheer 
fully.  "  Here's  a  letter  from  Uncle  Peter  I  must 
read." 

He  drew  his  chair  aside  and  began  the  letter : 

"  MONTANA  CITY,  July  2ist,  1900. 
"  DEAR  PETE  :  —  Your  letter  and  Martha's  rec'd, 
and  glad  to  hear  from  you.  I  leave  latter  part  of 
this  week  for  the  mtns.  Late  setting  out  this  season 
acct.  rhumatiz  caught  last  winter  that  laid  me  up 
all  spring.  It  was  so  mortal  dull  here  with  you 
folks  gone  that  I  went  out  with  a  locating  party  to 
get  the  M.  P.  branch  located  ahead  of  the  Short  Line 
folks.  So  while  you  were  having  your  fun  there  I 
was  having  mine  here,  and  I  had  it  good  and  plenty. 
"The  worst  weather  I  ever  did  see,  and  I  have  seen 
some  bad.  Snow  six  to  eight  feet  on  a  level  and 
the  mercury  down  as  low  as  62  with  an  ornery  fierce 
wind.  We  lost  four  horses  froze  to  death,  and 
all  but  two  of  the  men  got  froze  up  bad.  We  reached 


290  THE    SPENDERS 

the  head  of  Madison  Valley  Feb.  19,  north  of  Red 
Bank  Canon,  but  it  wasn't  as  easy  as  it  sounds. 

"  Jan.  8,  after  getting  out  of  supplies,  we  aban 
doned  our  camp  at  Riverside  and  moved  10  m.  down 
the  river  carrying  what  we  could  on  our  backs.  Met 
pack  train  with  a  few  supplies  that  night,  and  next 
day  I  took  part  of  the  force  in  boat  to  meet  over-due 
load  of  supplies.  We  got  froze  in  the  ice.  Left 
party  to  break  through  and  took  Billy  Brue  and 
went  ahead  to  hunt  team.  Billy  and  me  lived  four 
days  on  one  Ib.  bacon.  The  second  day  Billy  took 
some  sickness  so  he  could  not  eat  hardly  any  food; 
the  next  day  he  was  worse,  and  the  last  day  he  was 
so  bad  he  said  the  bare  sight  of  food  made  him 
gag.  I  think  he  was  a  liar,  because  he  wasn't 
troubled  none  after  we  got  to  supplies  again,  but  1 
couldn't  do  anything  with  him,  and  so  I  lived  high 
and  come  out  slick  and  fat.  Finally  we  found  the 
team  coming  in.  They  had  got  stuck  in  the  river 
and  we  had  to  carry  out  the  load  on  our  backs, 
waist-deep  in  running  water.  I  see  some  man  in 
the  East  has  a  fad  for  breaking  the  ice  in  the 
river  and  going  swimming.  I  would  not  do  it  for 
any  fad.  Slept  in  snow-drift  that  night  in  wet 
clothes,  mercury  40  below.  Was  18  days  going  33 
miles.  Broke  wagon  twice,  then  broke  sled  and 
crippled  one  horse.  Packed  the  other  five  and  went 
on  till  snow  was  too  deep.  Left  the  horses  where 
four  out  of  five  died  and  carried  supplies  the  rest 
of  the  way  on  our  backs.  Moved  camp  again  on  our 
backs  and  got  caught  in  a  blizzard  and  nearly  all 


THE    SPENDERS  291 

of  us  got  our  last  freezeup  that  time.  Finally  a 
Chinook  opened  the  river  and  I  took  a  boat  up  to 
get  the  abandoned  camp.  Got  froze  in  harder  than 
ever  and  had  to  walk  out.  Most  of  the  men  quit 
on  account  of  frozen  feet,  etc.,  etc.  They  are  a 
getting  to  be  a  sissy  lot  these  days,  rather  lie  around 
a  hot  stove  all  winter. 

"  I  had  to  pull  chain,  cut  brush,  and  shovel  snow 
after  the  ist  Feb.  Our  last  stage  was  from  Fire 
Hole  Basin  to  Madison  Valley,  45  m.  It  was  hell. 
Didn't  see  the  sun  but  once  after  Feb.  I,  and  it 
stormed  insessant,  making  short  sights  necessary, 
and  with  each  one  we  would  have  to  dig  a  hole  to 
the  ground  and  often  a  ditch  or  a  tunnel  through  the 
snow  to  look  through.  The  snow  was  soft  to  the 
bottom  and  an  instrument  would  sink  through." 

"  Here's  a  fine  letter  to  read  on  a  hot  day,"  called 
Percival.  "  I'm  catching  cold."  He  continued. 

"  We  have  a  very  good  line,  better  than  from 
Beaver  Canon,  our  maps  filed  and  construction 
under  way;  all  grading  done  and  some  track  laid. 
That's  what  you  call  hustling.  The  main  drawback 
is  that  Red  Bank  Canon.  It's  a  regular  avalanche 
for  eight  miles.  The  snow  slides  just  fill  the  river. 
One  just  above  our  camp  filled  it  for  *4  mite  and 
40  feet  deep  and  cut  down  3  ft.  trees  like  a  razor 
shaves  your  face.  I  had  to  run  to  get  out  of  the 
way.  Reached  Madison  Valley  with  one  tent  and 
it  looked  more  like  mosquito  bar  than  canvas.  The 


292  THE    SPENDERS 

old  cloth  wouldn't  hardly  hold  the  patches  together. 
I  slept  out  doors  for  six  weeks.  I  got  frost-bit  con 
siderable  and  the  rhumatiz.  I  tell  you,  at  75  I  ain't 
the  man  I  used  to  be.  I  find  I  need  a  stout  tent  and 
a  good  warm  sleeping  bag  for  them  kind  of  doings 
nowdays. 

"  Well,  this  Western  country  would  be  pretty  dull 
for  you  I  suppose  going  to  balls  and  parties  every 
night  with  the  Astors  and  Vanderbilts.  I  hope  you 
ain't  cut  loose  none. 

"  By  the  way.  that  party  that  ground-sluiced  us, 
Coplen  he  met  a  party  in  Spokane  the  other  day 
that  seen  her  in  Paris  last  spring.  She  was  laying 
in  a  stock  of  duds  and  the  party  gethered  that  she 
was  going  back  to  New  York  — 

The  Milbreys,  father  and  son,  came  up  and 
greeted  the  group  on  the  piazza.. 

"  I've  just  frozen  both  ears  reading  a  letter  from 
my  grandfather,"  said  Percival.  "  Excuse  me  one 
moment  and  I'll  be  done." 

"  All  right,  old  chap.  I'll  see  if  there's  some  mail 
for  me.  Dad  can  chat  with  the  ladies.  Ah,  here's 
Mrs.  Drelmer.  Mornin'  !  " 

Percival  resumed  his  letter: 

"  —  going  back  to  New  York  and  make  the 
society  bluff.  They  say  she's  got  the  face  to  do 
it  all  right.  Coplen  learned  she  come  out  here  with 
a  gambler  from  New  Orleans  and  she  was  dealing 
bank  herself  up  to  Wallace  for  a  spell  while  he  was 


THE    SPENDERS  293 

broke.  This  gambler  he  was  the  slickest  short-card 
player  ever  struck  hereabouts.  He  was  too  good. 
He  was  so  good  they  shot  him  all  up  one  night  last 
fall  over  to  Wardner.  She  hadn't  lived  with  him 
for  some  time  then,  though  Coplen  says  they  was 
lawful  man  and  wife,  so  I  guess  maybe  she  was 
glad  when  he  got  it  good  in  the  chest-place  —  " 

Fred  Milbrey  came  out  of  the  hotel  office. 

"  No  mail,"  he  said.  "  Come,  let's  be  getting 
along.  Finish  your  letter  on  the  way,  Bines." 

"  I've  just  finished,"  said  Percival,  glancing  down 
the  last  sheet. 

"  —  Coplen  says  she  is  now  calling  herself  Mrs. 
Brench  Wybert  or  some  such  name.  I  just  thought 
I'd  tell  you  in  case  you  might  run  acrost  her  and  —  " 

"  Come  along,  old  chap,"  urged  Milbrey;  "  Mrs. 
Wybert  will  be  waiting."  His  father  had  started 
off  with  Psyche.  Mrs.  Bines  and  Mrs.  Drelmer 
were  preparing  to  follow. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  Percival,  "  I  didn't 
quite  catch  the  name." 

"  I  say  Mrs.  Wybert  and  mother  will  be  waiting 

—  come  along!  " 
"What  name?" 

"  Wybert  —  Mrs.   Brench   Wybert  —  my   friend 

—  what's  the  matter?  " 

"  We  can't  go ;  —  that  is  —  we  can't  meet  her. 
Sis,  come  back  a  moment,"  he  called  to  Psyche,  and 
then : 


294  THE    SPENDERS 

"  I  want  a  word  with  you  and  your  father, 
Milbrey." 

The  two  joined  the  elder  Milbrey  and  the  three 
strolled  out  to  the  flower-bordered  walk,  while 
Psyche  Bines  went,  wondering,  back  to  her  mother. 

"  What's  all  the  row  ?  "  inquired  Fred  Milbrey. 

"  You've  been  imposed  upon.     This  woman  - 
this  Mrs.  Brench  Wybert  —  there  can  be  no  mis 
take;   you  are  sure  that's  the  name?  " 

"Of  course  I'm  sure;  she's  the  widow  of  a 
Southern  gentleman,  Colonel  Brench  Wybert,  from 
New  Orleans." 

"  Yes,  the  same  woman.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
you  have  been  imposed  upon.  The  thing  to  do  is 
to  drop  her  quick  —  she  isn't  right." 

"  In  what  way  has  my  family  been  imposed  upon, 
Mr.  Bines?"  asked  the  elder  Milbrey,  somewhat 
perturbed ;  "  Mrs.  Wybert  is  a  lady  of  family  and 
large  means  —  " 

"  Yes,  I  know,  she  has,  or  did  have  a  while  ago, 
two  million  dollars  in  cold  cash." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Bines  —  ?  " 

"  Can't  you  take  my  word  for  it,  that  she's  not 
right  —  not  the  woman  for  your  wife  and  daughter 
to  meet  ? " 

"  Look  here,  Bines,"  the  younger  Milbrey  splut 
tered,  "  this  won't  do,  you  know.  If  you've  any 
thing  to  say  against  Mrs.  Wybert,  you'll  have  to 
say  it  out  and  you'll  have  to  be  responsible  to  me, 
sir." 

"  Take  my  word  that  you've  been  imposed  upon ; 


THE    SPENDERS  295 

she's  not  —  not  the  kind  of  person  you  would  care 
to  know,  to  be  thrown  — 

"  I  and  my  family  have  found  her  quite  accepta 
ble,  Mr.  Bines,"  interposed  the  father,  stiffly.  "  Her 
deportment  is  scrupulously  correct,  and  I  am  in  her 
confidence  regarding  certain  very  extensive  invest 
ments  —  she  cannot  be  an  impostor,  sir !  " 

"  But  I  tell  you  she  isn't  right,"  insisted  Percival, 
warmly. 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  said  the  younger  Milbrey  —  his  face 
clearing  all  at  once.  "  It's  all  right,  dad,  come  on !  " 

"  If  you  insist,"  said  Percival,  "  but  none  of  us 
can  meet  her." 

"  It's  all  right,  dad  —  I  understand  —  " 

"  Nor  can  we  know  any  one  who  receives  her." 

"  Really,  sir,"  began  the  elder  Milbrey,  "  your 
effrontery  in  assuming  to  dictate  the  visiting  list 
of  my  family  is  overwhelming." 

"If  you  won't  take  my  word  I  shall  have  to 
dictate  so  far  as  I  have  any  personal  control  over 
it." 

"  Don't  mind  him,  dad  —  I  know  all  about  it,  I 
tell  you  —  I'll  explain  later  to  you." 

"  Why,"  exclaimed  Percival,  stung  to  the  reve 
lation,  "  that  woman,  this  woman  now  waiting  with 
your  wife  and  daughter,  was  my  —  " 

"  Stop,  Mr.  Bines  —  not  another  word,  if  you 
please !  "  The  father  raised  his  hand  in  graceful 
dismissal.  "  Let  this  terminate  the  acquaintance 
between  our  families !  No  more,  sir ! "  and  he  turned 
away,  followed  by  his  son.  As  they  walked  out 


296  THE    SPENDERS 

through  the  grounds  and  turned  up  the  street  the 
young  man  spoke  excitedly,  while  his  father  slightly 
bent  his  head  to  listen,  with  an  air  of  distant 
dignity. 

"  What's  the  trouble,  Perce  ?  "  asked  his  sister, 
as  he  joined  the  group  on  the  piazza. 

"  The  trouble  is  that  we've  just  had  to  cut  that 
fine  old  New  York  family  off  our  list." 

"  What,  not  the  Milbreys !  "  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Drelmer. 

"  The  same.      Now  mind,   sis,   and  you,   ma  — 
you're  not  to  know  them  again  —  and  mind  this  - 
if  any  one  else  wants  to  present  you  to  a   Mrs. 
Wybert  —  a  Mrs.  Brench  Wybert  —  don't  you  let 
them.     Understand?" 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  said  Mrs.  Drelmer;  "  she 
acted  just  the  least  little  bit  too  right." 

"  Well,  I  haven't  my  hammer  with  me  —  but 
remember,  now,  sis,  it's  for  something  else  than 
because  her  father's  cravats  were  the  ready-to-wear 
kind,  or  because  her  worthy  old  grandfather  inhaled 
his  soup.  Don't  forget  that." 

"  As  there  isn't  anything  else  to  do,"  he  suggested, 
a  few  moments  later,  "  why  not  get  under  way 
and  take  a  run  up  the  coast?  " 

"  But  I  must  get  back  to  my  babies,"  said  Mrs. 
Bines,  plaintively.  "  Here  I've  been  away  four 
days." 

"  All  right,  ma,  I  suppose  we  shall  have  to  take 
you  there,  only  let's  get  out  of  here  right  away. 
We  can  bring  sis  and  you  back,  Mrs.  Drelmer, 


THE    SPENDERS  297 

when  those  people  we  don't  know  get  off  again. 
There's  Mauburn;  I'll  tell  him." 

"  I'll  have  my  dunnage  down  directly,"  said 
Mauburn. 

Up  the  street  driving  a  pony-cart  came  Avice 
Milbrey.  Obeying  a  quick  impulse,  Percival  stepped 
to  the  curb  as  she  came  opposite  to  him.  She  pulled 
over.  She  was  radiant  in  the  fluffs  of  summer 
white,  her  hat  and  gown  touched  with  bits  of  the 
same  vivid  blue  that  shone  in  her  eyes.  The  impulse 
that  had  prompted  him  to  hail  her  now  prompted 
wild  words.  His  long  habit  of  thought  concern 
ing  her  enabled  him  to  master  this  foolishness. 
But  at  least  he  could  give  her  a  friendly  word  of 
warning.  She  greeted  him  with  the  pretty  reserve 
in  her  manner  that  had  long  marked  her  bearing 
toward  him. 

"Good-morning!  I've  borrowed  this  cart  of 
Elsie  Vainer  to  drive  down  to  the  yacht  station  for 
lost  mail.  Isn't  the  day  perfect  —  and  isn't  this  the 
dearest  fat,  sleepy  pony,  with  his  hair  in  his  eyes?  " 

"  Miss  Milbrey,  there's  a  woman  who  seems  to 
be  a  friend  of  your  family  —  a  Mrs.  —  " 

"  Mrs.  Wybert;   yes,  you  know  her?  " 

"  No,  I'd  never  seen  her  until  last  night,  nor  heard 
that  name  until  this  morning;  but  I  know  of  her." 

"Yes?" 

"  It  became  necessary  just  now  —  really,  it  is  not 
fair  of  me  to  speak  to  you  at  all  - 

"  Why,  pray  ?  —  not  fair  ?  " 

"  I  had  to  tell  your  father  and  brother  that  we 


298  THE   SPENDERS 

could  not  meet  Mrs.  Wybert,  and  couldn't  know  any 
one  who  received  her." 

'  There !  I  knew  the  woman  wasn't  right  di 
rectly  I  heard  her  speak.  Surely  a  word  to  my 
father  was  enough." 

"  But  it  wasn't,  I'm  sorry  to  say.  Neither  he 
nor  your  brother  would  take  my  word,  and  when 
I  started  to  give  my  reasons  —  something  it  would 
have  been  very  painful  for  me  to  do  —  your  father 
refused  to  listen,  and  declared  the  acquaintance 
between  our  families  at  an  end." 

"Oh!" 

"  It  hurt  me  in  a  way  I  can't  tell  you,  and  now, 
even  this  talk  with  you  is  off-side  play.  Miss 
Milbrey!" 

"Mr.  Bines!" 

"  I  wouldn't  have  said  what  I  did  to  your  father 
and  brother  without  good  reason." 

"  I  am  sure  of  that,  Mr.  Bines." 

"  Without  reasons  I  was  sure  of,  you  know,  so 
there  could  be  no  chance  of  any  mistake." 

'  Your  word  is  enough  for  me,  Mr.  Bines." 

"  Miss  Milbrey  —  you  and  I  —  there's  always 
been  something  between  us  —  something  different 
from  what  is  between  most  people.  We've  never 
talked  straight  out  since  I  came  to  New  York  —  I'll 
be  sorry,  perhaps,  for  saying  as  much  as  I  am  say 
ing,  after  awhile  —  but  we  may  not  talk  again  at 
all  —  I'm  afraid  you  may  misunderstand  me  —  but 
I  must  say  it  —  I  should  like  to  go  away  knowing 
you  would  have  no  friendship,  —  no  intimacy  what 
ever  with  that  woman." 


THE   SPENDERS  299 

"  I  promise  you  I  shall  not,  Mr.  Bines ;  they  can 
row  if  they  like." 

"  And  yet  it  doesn't  seem  fair  to  have  you  prom 
ise  as  if  it  were  a  consideration  for  me,  because  I've 
no  right  to  ask  it.  But  if  I  felt  sure  that  you  took 
my  word  quite  as  if  I  were  a  stranger,  and  relied 
upon  it  enough  to  have  no  communication  or  inter 
course  of  any  sort  whatsoever  with  her,  it  would  be 
a  great  satisfaction  to  me." 

"  I  shall  not  meet  her  again.  And  —  thank 
you !  "  There  was  a  slight  unsteadiness  once  in 
her  voice,  and  he  could  almost  have  sworn  her 
eyes  showed  that  old  brave  wistfulness. 

"  —  and  quite  as  if  you  were  a  stranger." 

"  Thank  you !  and,  Miss  Milbrey  ?  " 

"Yes?" 

"  Your  brother  may  become  entangled  in  some 
way  with  this  woman." 

"  It's  entirely  possible." 

Her  voice  was  cool  and  even  again. 

"  He  might  even  marry  her." 

"  She  has  money,  I  believe;   he  might  indeed." 

"  Always  money !  "  he  thought ;   then  aloud : 

"  If  you  find  he  means  to,  Miss  Milbrey,  do  any 
thing  you  can  to  prevent  it.  It  wouldn't  do  at  all, 
you  know." 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Bines;   I  shall  remember." 

"I  —  I  think  that's  all  —  and  I'm  sorry  we're 
not  —  our  families  are  not  to  be  friends  any  more." 

She  smiled  rather  painfully,  with  an  obvious 
effort  to  be  conventional. 


300  THE    SPENDERS 

"So  sorry!     Good-bye!" 

He  looked  after  her  as  she  drove  off.  She  sat 
erect,  her  head  straight  to  the  front,  her  trim  shoul 
ders  erect,  and  the  whip  grasped  firmly.  He  stood 
motionless  until  the  fat  pony  had  jolted  sleepily 
around  the  corner. 

"Bines,  old  boy!"  he  said  to  himself,  "you 
nearly  made  one  of  yourself  there.  I  didn't  know 
you  had  such  ready  capabilities  for  being  an  ass." 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

A   Hot  Day  in  New   York,  with  News  of  an 
Interesting  Marriage 

AT  five  o'clock  that  day  the  prow  of  the  Viluca 
cut  the  waters  of  Newport  harbour  around 
Goat  Island,  and  pointed  for  New  York. 

"  Now  is  your  time,"  said  Mrs.  Drelmer  to  Mau- 
burn.  "  I'm  sure  the  girl  likes  you,  and  this  row 
with  the  Milbreys  has  cut  off  any  chance  that  cub 
had.  Why  not  propose  to  her  to-night?  " 

"  I  have  seemed  to  be  getting  on,"  answered  Man- 
burn.  "  But  wait  a  bit.  There's  that  confounded 
girl  over  there.  No  telling  what  she'll  do.  She 
might  knock  things  on  the  head  any  moment." 

"  All  the  more  reason  for  prompt  action,  and 
there  couldn't  very  well  be  anything  to  hurt  you." 

"By  Jove!  that's  so;  there  couldn't,  very  well, 
could  there?  I'll  take  your  advice." 

And  so  it  befell  that  Mauburn  and  Miss  Bines 
sat  late  on  deck  that  night,  and  under  the  witchery 
of  a  moon  that  must  long  since  have  become  hard 
ened  to  the  spectacle,  the  old,  old  story  was  told, 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  engine's  muffled  throb, 
and  the  soft  purring  of  the  silver  waters  as  they 

301 


302  THE    SPENDERS 

slipped  by  the  boat  and  blended  with  the  creamy 
track  astern.  So  little  variation  was  there  in  the 
time-worn  tale,  and  in  the  maid's  reception  of  it, 
that  neither  need  here  be  told  of  in  detail. 

Nor  were  the  proceedings  next  morning  less 
tamely  orthodox.  Mrs.  Bines  managed  to  forget 
her  relationship  of  elder  sister  to  the  poor  long 
enough  to  behave  as  a  mother  ought  when  the 
heart  of  her  daughter  has  been  given  into  a  true- 
love's  keeping.  Percival  deported  himself  cor 
dially. 

"  I'm  really  glad  to  hear  it,"  he  said  to  Man- 
burn.  "  I'm  sure  you'll  make  sis  as  good  a  husband 
as  she'll  make  you  a  wife;  and  that's  very  good, 
indeed.  Let's  fracture  a  cold  quart  to  the  future 
Lady  Casselthorpe." 

"And  to  the  future  Lord  Casselthorpe!"  added 
Mrs.  Drelmer,,  who  was  warmly  enthusiastic. 

"  Such  a  brilliant  match,"  she  murmured  to  Per 
cival,  when  they  had  touched  glasses  in  the  after- 
cabin.  "  I  know  more  than  one  New  York  girl 
who'd  have  jumped  at  the  chance." 

"  We'll  try  to  bear  our  honours  modestly,"  he 
answered  her. 

The  yacht  lay  at  her  anchorage  in  the  East  River. 
Percival  made  preparations  to  go  ashore  with  his 
mother. 

"  Stay  here  with  the  turtle-doves,"  he  said  to  Mrs. 
Drelmer,  "  far  enough  off,  of  course,  to  let  them 
coo,  and  I'll  be  back  with  any  people  I  can  pick  up 
for  a  cruise." 


THE    SPENDERS  303 

"  Trust  me  to  contract  the  visual  and  aural  infir 
mities  of  the  ideal  chaperone,"  was  Mrs.  Drelmer's 
cheerful  response.  "  And  if  you  should  run  across 
that  poor  dear  of  a  husband  of  mine,  tell  him  not 
to  slave  himself  to  death  for  his  thoughtless  butter 
fly  of  a  wife,  who  toils  not,  neither  does  she  spin. 
Tell  him,"  she  added,  "  that  I'm  playing  dragon  to 
this  engaged  couple.  It  will  cheer  up  the  poor 
dear." 

The  city  was  a  fiery  furnace.  But  its  prisoners 
were  not  exempt  from  its  heat,  like  certain  holy 
ones  of  old.  On  the  dock  where  Percival  and  his 
mother  landed  was  a  listless  throng  of  them,  gasping 
for  the  faint  little  breezes  that  now  and  then  blew 
in  from  the  water.  A  worn  woman  with  unkempt 
hair,  her  waist  flung  open  at  the  neck,  sat  in  a  spot 
of  shade,  and  soothed  a  baby  already  grown  too 
weak  to  be  fretful.  Mrs.  Bines  spoke  to  her,  while 
Percival  bought  a  morning  paper  from  a  tiny  news-r 
boy,  who  held  his  complete  attire  under  one  arm, 
his  papers  under  the  other,  and  his  pennies  in  his 
mouth,  keeping  meantime  a  shifty  side-glance  on  the 
policeman  a  block  away,  who  might  be  expected  to 
interfere  with  his  contemplated  plunge. 

"  That  poor  soul's  been  there  all  night,"  said  Mrs. 
Bines.  "  She's  afraid  her  baby's  going  to  die ;  and 
yet  she  was  so  cheerful  and  polite  about  it,  and  when 
I  gave  her  some  money  the  poor  thing  blushed.  I 
told  her  to  bring  the  baby  down  to  the  floating 
hospital  to-morrow,  but  I  mistrust  it  won't  be  alive, 
and  —  oh,  there's  an  ambulance  backed  up  to  the 
sidewalk;  see  what  the  matter  is." 


304  THE    SPENDERS 

As  Percival  pushed  through  the  outer  edge  of 
the  crowd,  a  battered  wreck  of  a  man  past  middle 
age  was  being  lifted  into  the  ambulance.  His  eyes 
were  closed,  his  face  a  dead,  chalky  white,  and  his 
body  hung  limp. 

"Sunstroke?"  asked  Percival. 

The  overworked  ambulance  surgeon,  who  seemed 
himself  to  be  in  need  of  help,  looked  up. 

"Nope;  this  is  a  case  of  plain  starvation.  I'm 
nearer  sunstroke  myself  than  he  is  —  not  a  wink  of 
sleep  for  two  nights  now.  Fifty-two  runs  since 
yesterday  at  this  time,  and  the  bell  still  ringing. 
Gee!  but  it's  hot.  This  lad  won't  ever  care  about 
the  weather  again,  though,"  he  concluded,  jumping 
on  to  the  rear  step  and  grasping  the  rails  on  either 
side  while  the  driver  clanged  his  gong  and  started 
off. 

"Was  it  sunstroke?"  asked  Mrs.  Bines. 

"  Man  with  stomach  trouble,"  answered  her  son, 
shortly. 

"  They're  so  careless  about  what  they  eat  this  hot 
weather,"  Mrs.  Bines  began,  as  they  walked  toward 
a  carriage;  "all  sorts  of  heavy  foods  and  green 
fruit  - 

"  Well,  if  you  must  know,  this  one  had  been  care 
less  enough  not  to  eat  anything  at  all.  He  was 
starved." 

"  Oh,  dear !  What  a  place !  here  people  are  starv 
ing,  and  look  at  us !  Why,  we  wasted  enough  from 
breakfast  to  feed  a  small  family.  It  isn't  right. 
They  never  would  allow  such  a  thing  in  Montana 
City." 


THE    SPENDERS  305 

They  entered  the  carriage  and  were  driven  slowly 
up  a  side  street  where  slovenly  women  idled  in  win 
dows  and  doorways  and  half-naked  children  chased 
excitedly  after  the  ice-wagons. 

"  I  used  to  think  it  wasn't  right  myself  until  I 
learned  not  to  question  the  ways  of  Providence." 

"  Providence,  your  grandmother !  Look  at  those 
poor  little  mites  fighting  for  that  ice!  " 

"  We  have  to  accept  it.  It  seems  to  be  proof  of 
the  Creator's  versatility.  It  isn't  every  one  who 
would  be  nervy  enough  and  original  enough  to 
make  a  world  where  people  starve  to  death  right 
beside  those  who  have  too  much." 

"That's  rubbish!" 

"You're  blasphemous!  and  you're  overwrought 
about  the  few  cases  of  need  here.  Think  of  those 
two  million  people  that  have  just  starved  to  death 
in  India." 

"  That  wasn't  my  fault." 

"  Exactly ;  if  you'd  been  there  the  list  might  have 
been  cut  down  four  or  five  thousand ;  not  more.  It 
was  the  fault  of  whoever  makes  the  weather.  It 
didn't  rain  and  their  curry  crop  failed  —  or  what 
ever  they  raise  —  and  there  you  are ;  and  we 
couldn't  help  matters  any  by  starving  ourselves  to 
death." 

'''  Well,  I  know  of  a  few  matters  here  I  can  help. 
And  just  look  at  all  those  empty  houses  boarded 
up !  "  she  cried  later,  as  they  crossed  Madison  Av 
enue.  '  Those  poor  things  bake  themselves  to 
death  down  in  their  little  ovens,  and  these  great  cool 


306  THE   SPENDERS 

places  are  all  shut  up.    Why,  that  poor  little  baby's 
hands  were  just  like  bird's  claws." 

"  Well,  don't  take  your  sociology  too  seriously," 
Percival  warned  her,  as  they  reached  the  hotel. 
"  Being  philanthropic  is  obeying  an  instinct  just  as 
selfish  as  any  of  the  others.  A  little  of  it  is  all 
right  —  but  don't  be  a  slave  to  your  passions.  And 
be  careful  of  your  health." 

In  his  mail  at  the  Hightower  was  a  note  from 
Mrs.  Akemit : 

"  NEW  LONDON,  July  29th. 

"  You  DEAR  THOUGHTFUL  MAN  :  I'll  be  delighted, 
and  the  aunt,  a  worthy  sister  of  the  dear  bishop,  has 
consented.  She  is  an  acidulous  maiden  person  with 
ultra-ritualistic  tendencies.  At  present  she  is  strong 
on  the  reunion  of  Christendom,  and  holds  that  the 
Anglican  must  be  the  unifying  medium  of  the  two 
religious  extremes.  So  don't  say  I  didn't  warn  you 
fairly.  She  will,  however,  impart  an  air  of  Episco 
palian  propriety  to  that  naughty  yacht  of  yours  — 
something  sadly  needed  if  I  am  to  believe  the  tales 
I  hear  about  its  little  voyages  to  nowhere  in 
particular. 

"  Babe  sends  her  love,  and  says  to  tell  '  Uncle  Per- 
cibal '  that  the  ocean  tastes  '  all  nassy.'  She  stood 
upon  the  beach  yesterday  after  making  this  discov 
ery  involuntarily,  and  proscribed  it  with  one  mag 
nificent  wave  of  her  hand  and  a  brief  exclamation 
of  disgust  —  turned  her  back  disrespectfully  upon 
a  body  of  water  that  is  said  to  cover  two-thirds  — 
or  is  it  three-fourths  ?  —  of  the  earth's  surface. 


THE    SPENDERS  307 

Think  of  it!  She  seemed  to  suspect  she  had  been 
imposed  upon  in  the  matter  of  its  taste,  and  is  going 
to  tell  the  janitor  directly  we  get  home,  in  order 
that  the  guilty  ones  may  be  seen  to.  Her  little 
gesture  of  dismissal  was  superbly  contemptuous.  I 
wish  you  had  been  with  me  to  watch  her.  Yes,  the 
bathing-suit  does  have  little  touches  of  red,  and 
red  —  but  this  will  never  do.  Give  us  a  day's 
notice,  and  believe  me, 

"  Sincerely, 

"  FLORENCE  VERDON  AKEMIT. 

"  P.  S.  Babe  is  on  the  back  of  my  chair,  cuddling 
down  in  my  neck,  and  says,  '  Send  him  your  love, 
too,  Mommie.  Now  don't  you  forget.'  ' 

He  telegraphed  Mrs.  Akemit :  "  Will  reach  New 
London  to-morrow.  Assure  your  aunt  of  my  de 
light  at  her  acceptance.  I  have  long  held  that  the 
reunion  must  come  as  she  thinks  it  will." 

Then  he  ventured  into  the  heat  and  glare  of 
Broadway  where  humanity  stewed  and  wilted.  At 
Thirty-second  Street  he  ran  into  Burman,  with 
whom  he  had  all  but  cornered  wheat. 

"  You're  the  man  I  wanted  to  see,"  said  Percival. 

"  Hurry  and  look!    I'm  melting  fast" 

"  Come  off  on  the  yacht/' 

"My  preserver!  I  was  just  going  down  to  the 
Oriental,  but  your  dug-out  wins  me  hands  down. 
Come  into  this  poor-man's  club.  I  must  have  a 
cold  drink  taller  than  a  church  steeple." 

"  Anybody  else  in  town  we  can  take?  " 


308  THE    SPENDERS 

"  There's  Billy  Yelverton  —  our  chewing-gum 
friend;  just  off  the  Lucania  last  night;  and 
Eddie  Arledge  and  his  wife.  They're  in  town  be 
cause  Eddie  was  up  in  supplementary  or  something 
-  some  low,  coarse  brute  of  a  tradesman  wanted 
his  old  bill  paid,  and  wouldn't  believe  Eddie  when 
he  said  he  couldn't  spare  the  money.  Eddie  is 
about  as  lively  as  a  dish  of  cold  breakfast  food,  but 
his  wife  is  all  right,  all  right.  Retiring  from  the 
footlights'  glare  didn't  spoil  Mrs.  E.  Wadsworth 
Arledge,  —  not  so  you  could  notice  it." 

"  Well,  see  Eddie  if  you  can,  and  I'll  find  Yel 
verton  ;  he's  probably  at  the  hotel  yet ;  and  meet 
me  there  by  five,  so  we  can  get  out  of  this  little 
amateur  hell." 

"  And  quit  trying  to  save  that  collar,"  urged 
Burman,  as  they  parted ;  "  you  look  foolisher  than 
a  horse  in  a  straw  hat  with  it  on  anyway.  Let  it 
go  and  tuck  in  your  handkerchief  like  the  rest  of 
us.  See  you  at  five!  " 

At  the  hour  named  the  party  had  gathered.  Per- 
cival,  Arledge  and  his  lively  wife,  Yelverton,  who 
enjoyed  the  rare  distinction  of  having  lost  money 
to  Percival,  and  Burman.  East  they  drove  through 
the  street  where  less  fortunate  mortals  panted  in 
the  dead  afternoon  shade,  and  out  on  to  the  dock, 
whence  the  Viluca's  naphtha  launch  presently  put 
them  aboard  that  sumptuous  craft.  A  little  breeze 
there  made  the  heat  less  oppressive. 

"  We'll  be  under  way  as  soon  as  they  fetch  that 
luggage  out,"  Percival  assured  his  guests. 


THE    SPENDERS  309 

"  It's  been  frightfully  oppressive  all  day,  even 
out  here,"  said  Mrs.  Drelmer,  "  but  the  engaged 
ones  haven't  lost  their  tempers  once,  even  if  the 
day  was  trying.  And  really  they're  the  most  un 
emotional  and  matter-of-fact  couple  I  ever  saw. 
Oh !  do  give  me  that  stack  of  papers  until  I  catch 
up  with  the  news  again." 

Percival  relinquished  to  her  the  evening  papers 
he  had  bought  before  leaving  the  hotel,  and  Mrs. 
Drelmer  in  the  awninged  shade  at  the  stern  of  the 
boat  was  soon  running  through  them. 

The  others  had  gone  below,  where  Percival  was 
allotting  staterooms,  and  urging  every  one  to  "  or 
der  whatever  cold  stuff  you  like  and  get  into  as  few 
things  as  the  law  allows.  For  my  part,  I'd  like 
to  wear  nothing  but  a  cold  bath." 

Mrs.  Drelmer  suddenly  betrayed  signs  of  excite 
ment.  She  sat  up  straight  in  the  wicker  deck-chair, 
glanced  down  a  column  of  her  newspaper,  and  then 
looked  up. 

Mauburn's  head  appeared  out  of  the  cabin's 
gloom.  He  was  still  speaking  to  some  one  below. 
Mrs.  Drelmer  rattled  the  paper  and  waved  it  at  him. 
He  came  up  the  stairs. 

"What's  the  row?" 

"Read  it!" 

He  took  the  paper  and  glanced  at  the  headlines. 

"  I  knew  she'd  do  it.  A  chap  always  comes  up 
with  something  of  that  sort,  and  I  was  beginning 
to  feel  so  chippy !  "  He  read : 

"  LONDON,   July   3Oth.  —  Lord   Casselthorpe  to- 


310  THE   SPENDERS 

day  wed  Miss  '  Connie  '  Burke,  the  music-hall 
singer  who  has  been  appearing  at  the  Alhambra. 
The  marriage  was  performed,  by  special  license,  at 
St.  Michael's  Church,  Chester  Square,  London,  the 
Rev.  Canon  Mecklin,  sub-clean  of  the  Chapel  Royal, 
officiating.  The  honeymoon  will  be  spent  at  the 
town-house  of  the  groom,  in  York  Terrace.  Lord 
Casselthorpe  has  long  been  known  as  the  blackest 
sheep  of  the  British  Peerage,  being  called  the 
'  Coster  Peer '  on  account  of  his  unconventional 
language,  his  coarse  manner,  and  slovenly  attire. 
Two  years  ago  he  was  warned  off  Newmarket 
Heath  and  the  British  turf  by  the  Jockey  Club.  He 
is  eighty-eight  years  old.  The  bride,  like  some  other 
lights  of  the  music-hall  who  have  become  the  con 
sorts  of  Britain's  hereditary  legislators,  has  enjoyed 
considerable  ante-nuptial  celebrity  among  the  gilded 
youth  of  the  metropolis,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
especially  admired  at  one  time  by  the  next  in  line 
of  this  illustrious  family,  the  Hon.  Cecil  G.  H. 
Mauburn. 

"The  Hon.  Cecil  G.  H.  Mauburn.  mentioned  in  the 
above  cable  despatch,  has  been  rather  well-known  in 
New  York  society  for  two  years  past.  His  en 
gagement  to  the  daughter  of  a  Montana  mining 
magnate,  not  long  deceased,  has  been  persistently 
rumoured." 

Mauburn  was  pale  under  his  freckles. 

"  Have  they  seen  it  yet?  " 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  she  answered.  "  We  might 
drop  these  papers  over  the  rail  here." 


SPENDERS  311 

"  That's  rot,  Mrs.  Drelmer;  it's  sure  to  be  talked 
of,  and  anyway  I  don't  want  to  be  sneaky,  you 
know." 

Percival  came  up  from  the  cabin  with  a  paper 
in  his  hand. 

"  I  see  you  have  it,  too,"  he  said,  smiling.  "  Bur- 
man  just  handed  me  this." 

"  Isn't  it  perfectly  disreputable!  "  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Drelmer. 

"  Why?  I  only  hope  I'll  have  as  much  interest  in 
life  by  the  time  I'm  that  age." 

"  But  how  will  your  sister  take  it?  "  asked  Mau- 
burn;  "  she  may  be  afraid  this  will  knock  my  title 
on  the  head,  you  know." 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  said  Percival;  "  I  hadn't  thought  of 
that." 

"  Only  it  can't,"  continued  Mauburn.  "  Hang  it 
all,  that  blasted  old  beggar  will  be  eighty-nine,  you 
knowr,  in  a  fortnight.  There  simply  can't  be  any 
issue  of  the  marriage,  and  that  —  that  blasted  —  " 

"  Better  not  try  to  describe  her  —  while  I'm  by, 
you  know,"  said  Mrs.  Drelmer,  sympathetically. 

"  Well  —  his  wife  —  you  know,  will  simply 
worry  him  into  the  grave  a  bit  sooner,  I  fancy  — 
that's  all  can  possibly  come  of  it." 

"  Well,  old  man,"  said  Percival,  "  I  don't  pre 
tend  to  know  the  workings  of  my  sister's  mind,  but 
you  ought  to  be  able  to  win  a  girl  on  your  own 
merits,  title  or  no  title." 

"  Awfully  good  of  you,  old  chap.  I'm  sure  she 
does  care  for  me." 


312  THE    SPENDERS 

"  But  of  course  it  will  be  only  fair  to  sis  to  lay 
the  matter  before  her  just  as  it  is." 

"  To  be  sure !  "  Mauburn  assented. 

"  And  now,  thank  the  Lord,  we're  under  way. 
Doesn't  that  breeze  save  your  life,  though?  We'll 
eat  here  on  deck." 

The  Viluca  swung  into  mid-stream,  and  was  soon 
racing  to  the  north  with  a  crowded  Fall  River  boat. 

"  But  anyway,"  concluded  Percival,  after  he  had 
explained  Mauburn's  position  to  his  sister,  "  he's  a 
good  fellow,  and  if  you  suit  each  other  even  the 
unexpected  wouldn't  make  any  difference." 

"  Of  course  not,"  she  assented,  "  '  the  rank  is  but 
the  guinea's  stamp,'  I  know  —  but  I  wasn't  meaning 
to  be  married  for  quite  a  time  yet,  anyway,  —  it's 
such  fun  just  being  engaged." 

"  A  mint  julep?  "  Mauburn  was  inquiring  of  one 
who  had  proposed  it.  "Does  it  have  whiskey  in  it ? " 

"  It  does,"  replied  Percival,  overhearing  the  ques 
tion  ;  "  whiskey  may  be  said  to  pervade,  even  to 
infest  it.  Try  five  or  six,  old  man ;  that  many  make 
a  great  one-night  trouble  cure.  And  I  can't  have 
any  one  with  troubles  on  this  Cunarder  —  not  for 
the  next  thirty  days.  I  need  cheerfulness  and  rest 
for  a  long  time  after  this  day  in  town.  Ah !  General 
Hemingway  says  that  dinner  is  served;  let's  be  at 
it  before  the  things  get  all  hot !  " 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

A   Sensational  Turn  in  the  Milbrey  Fortunes 

IT  was  a  morning  early  in  November.  In  the 
sedate  Milbrey  dining-room  a  brisk  wood-fire 
dulled  the  edge  of  the  first  autumn  chill.  At 
the  breakfast-table,  comfortably  near  the  hearth,  sat 
Horace  Milbrey.  With  pointed  spoon  he  had  dain 
tily  scooped  the  golden  pulp  from  a  Florida  orange, 
touched  the  tips  of  his  slender  white  fingers  to 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  bowl,  and  was  now 
glancing  leisurely  at  the  head-lines  of  his  paper, 
while  his  breakfast  appetite  gained  agreeable  zest 
from  the  acid  fruit. 

On  the  second  page  of  the  paper  the  names  in  a 
brief  item  arrested  his  errant  glance.  It  disclosed 
that  Mr.  Percival  Bines  had  left  New  York  the  day 
before  with  a  party  of  guests  on  his  special  car,  to 
shoot  quail  in  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Milbrey  glanced 
at  the  two  shells  of  the  orange  which  the  butler  was 
then  removing. 

"  What  a  hopeless  brute  that  fellow  was !  "  he 
reflected.  He  was  recalling  a  dictum  once  pro 
nounced  by  Mr.  Bines.  "  Oranges  should  never  be 
eaten  in  public,"  he  had  said  with  that  lordly  air 

313 


SPENDERS 


of  dogmatism  characteristic  of  him.  "  The  only 
right  way  to  eat  a  juicy  orange  is  to  disrobe,  grasp 
the  fruit  firmly  in  both  hands  and  climb  into  a 
bath-tub  half  full  of  water." 

The  finished  epicure  shuddered  at  the  recollection, 
poignantly,  quite  as  if  a  saw  were  being  filed  in  the 
next  room. 

The  disagreeable  emotion  was  allayed,  however, 
by  the  sight  of  his  next  course  —  oeufs  au.v  sands- 
sons.  Tender,  poetic  memories  stirred  within  him. 
The  little  truffled  French  sausages  aroused  his  better 
nature.  Two  of  them  reposed  luxuriously  upon  an 
egg-divan  in  the  dainty  French  baking-dish  of  dull 
green.  Over  them  —  a  fitting  baptism,  was  the  rich 
wine  sauce  of  golden  brown  —  a  sauce  that  might 
have  been  the  tears  of  envious  angels,  wept  over  a 
mortal  creation  so  faultlessly  precious. 

Mrs.  Milbrey  entered,  news  of  importance  visibly 
animating  her.  Her  husband  arose  mechanically, 
placed  the  chair  for  her,  and  resumed  his  fork  in  an 
ecstasy  of  concentration.  Yet,  though  Mrs.  Milbrey 
was  full  of  talk,  like  a  charged  siphon,  needing  but 
a  slight  pressure  to  pour  forth  matters  of  grave 
moment,  she  observed  the  engrossment  of  her  hus 
band,  and  began  on  the  half  of  an  orange.  She 
knew  from  experience  that  he  would  be  deaf,  for 
the  moment,  to  anything  less  than  an  alarm  of  fire. 

When  he  had  lovingly  consumed  the  last  morsel 
he  awoke  to  her  presence  and  smiled  benignantly. 

"  My  dear,  don't  fail  to  try  them,  they're  exquis 
itely  perfect!  " 


THE    SPENDERS  315 

"  You  really  must  talk  to  Avice,"  his  wife  replied. 

Mr.  Milbrey  sighed,  deprecatingly.  He  could 
remember  no  time  within  five  years  when  that  neces 
sity  had  not  weighed  upon  his  father's  sense  of  duty 
like  a  vast  boulder  of  granite.  He  turned  to  wel 
come  the  diversion  provided  by  the  rognons  sautees 
which  Jarvis  at  that  moment  uncovered  before  him 
with  a  discreet  flourish. 

"  Now  you  really  must,"  continued  his  wife,  "and 
you'll  agree  with  me  when  I  tell  you  why." 

"  But,  my  dear,  I've  already  talked  to  the  girl 
exhaustively.  I've  pointed  out  that  her  treatment 
of  Mrs.  Wybert  —  her  perverse  refusal  to  meet  the 
lady  at  all,  is  quite  as  absurd  as  it  is  rude,  and  that 
if  Fred  chooses  to  marry  Mrs.  Wybert  it  is  her 
duty  to  act  the  part  of  a  sister  even  if  she  cannot 
bring  herself  to  feel  it.  I've  assured  her  that  Mrs. 
Wybert's  antecedents  are  all  they  should  be ;  not  il 
lustrious,  perhaps,  but  eminently  respectable.  In 
deed,  I  quite  approve  of  the  Southern  aristocracy. 
But  she  constantly  recalls  what  that  snobbish  Bines 
was  unfair  enough  to  tell  her.  I've  done  my  utmost 
to  convince  her  that  Bines  spoke  in  the  way  he  did 
about  Mrs.  Wybert  because  he  knew  she  was  aware 
of  those  ridiculous  tales  of  his  mother's  illiteracy. 
But  Avice  is  —  er  —  my  dear,  she  is  like  her  mother 
in  more  ways  than  one.  Assuredly  she  doesn't  take 
it  from  me." 

He  became  interested  in  the  kidneys.  "  If  Marie 
had  been  a  man,"  he  remarked,  feelingly,  "  I  often 
suspect  that  her  fame  as  a  chef  would  have  been 


316  THE    SPENDERS 

second  to  none.     Really,  the  suavity  of  her  sauces 
is  a  never-ending  delight  to  me." 

"  I  haven't  told  you  yet  the  reason  —  a  new 
reason  —  why  you  must  talk  to  Avice." 

"  The  money  —  yes,  yes,  my  dear,  I  know,  we 
all  know.  Indeed,  I've  put  it  to  her  plainly.  She 
knows  how  sorely  Fred  needs  it.  She  knows  how 
that  beast  of  a  tailor  is  threatening  to  be  nasty  - 
and  I've  explained  how  invaluable  Mrs.  Wybert 
would  be,  reminding  her  of  that  lady's  generous 
hint  about  the  rise  in  Federal  Steel,  which  enabled 
me  to  net  the  neat  little  profit  of  ten  thousand  dol 
lars  a  month  ago,  and  how,  but  for  that,  we  might 
have  been  acutely  distressed.  Yet  she  stubbornly 
clings  to  the  notion  that  this  marriage  would  be  a 
mesalliance  for  the  Milbreys." 

"  I  agree  with  her,"  replied  his  wife,  tersely. 

Mr.  Milbrey  looked  perplexed  but  polite. 

"  I  quite  agree  with  Avice,"  continued  the  lady. 
"  That  woman  hasn't  been  right,  Horace,  and  she 
isn't  right.  Young  Bines  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about.  I  haven't  lived  my  years  without  being  able 
to  tell  that  after  five  minutes  with  her,  clever  as  she 
is.  I  can  read  her.  Like  so  many  of  those  women, 
she  has  an  intense  passion  to  be  thought  respectable, 
and  she's  come  into  money  enough  —  God  only 
knows  how  —  to  gratify  it.  I  could  tell  it,  if  noth 
ing  else  showed  it,  by  the  way  in  which  she  over 
does  respectability.  She  has  the  thousand  and  one 
artificial  little  rules  for  propriety  that  one  never 
does  have  when  one  has  been  bred  to  it.  That  kind 


THE    SPENDERS  317 

of  woman  is  certain  to  lapse  sooner  or  later.  She 
would  marry  Fred  because  of  his  standing,  because 
he's  a  favourite  with  the  smart  people  she  thinks 
she'd  like  to  be  pally  with.  Then,  after  a  little  she'd 
run  off  with  a  German-dialect  comedian  or  some 
thing,  like  that  appalling  person  Normie  Whitmund 
married." 

"  But  the  desire  to  be  respectable,  my  dear  —  and 
you  say  this  woman  has  it  —  is  a  mighty  lever.  I'm 
no  cynic  about  your  sex,  but  I  shudder  to  think  of 
their  —  ah  —  eccentricities  if  it  should  cease  to  be 
a  factor  in  the  feminine  equation." 

"  It's  nothing  more  than  a  passing  fad  with  this 
person  —  besides,  that's  not  what  I've  to  tell  you." 

"  But  you,  yourself,  were  not  averse  to  Fred's 
marrying  her,  in  spite  of  these  opinions  you  must 
secretly  have  held." 

"  Not  while  it  seemed  absolutely  necessary  —  not 
while  the  case  was  so  brutally  desperate,  when  we 
were  actually  pressed  — 

"  Remember,  my  dear,  there's  nothing  magic  in 
'hose  ten  thousand  dollars.  They're  winged  dollars 
like  all  their  mates,  and  most  of  them,  I'm  sorry  to 
say,  have  already  flown  to  places  where  they'd  long 
been  expected." 

Mrs.  Milbrey's  sensation  was  no  longer  to  be  re 
pressed.  She  had  toyed  with  the  situation  suffi 
ciently.  Her  husband  was  now  skilfully  dissecting 
the  devilled  thighs  of  an  immature  chicken. 

"  Horace,"  said  his  wife,  impressively,  "  Avice 
has  had  an  offer  of  marriage  —  from  —  " 


31 8  THE   SPENDERS 

He  looked  up  with  new  interest. 

"From  Rulon  Shepler." 

He  dropped  knife  and  fork.  Shepler,  the  man 
of  mighty  millions!  The  undisputed  monarch  of 
finance!  The  cold-blooded,  calculating  sybarite  in 
his  lighter  moments,  but  a  man  whose  values  as  a 
son-in-law  were  so  ideally  superb  that  the  Milbrey 
ambition  had  never  vaulted  high  enough  even  to 
overlook  them  for  one  daring  moment!  Shepler, 
whom  he  had  known  so  long  and  so  intimately,  with 
never  the  audacious  thought  of  a  union  so  stupen 
dously  glorious ! 

"  Margaret,  you're  jesting !  " 

Mrs.  Milbrey  scorned  to  be  dazzled  by  her 
triumph. 

"  Nonsense !  Shepler  asked  her  last  night  to 
marry  him." 

"  It's  bewildering !     I  never  dreamed  —  " 

"  I've  expected  it  for  months.  I  could  tell  you 
the  very  moment  when  the  idea  first  seized  the  man 
—  on  the  yacht  last  summer.  I  was  sure  she  inter 
ested  him,  even  before  his  wife  died  two  years  ago.'' 

"  Margaret,  it's  too  good  to  be  true!  " 

"  If  you  think  it  is  I'll  tell  you  something  that 
isn't :  Avice  practically  refused  him." 

Her  husband  pushed  away  his  plate ;  the  omission 
of  even  one  regretful  glance  at  its  treasures  betrayed 
the  strong  emotion  under  which  he  laboured. 

'  This  is  serious,"  he  said,  quietly.  "  Let  us  get 
at  it.  Tell  me  if  you  please !  " 

"  She  came  to  me  and  cried  half  the  night.     She 


THE    SPENDERS  319 

refused  him  definitely  at  first,  but  he  begged  her  to 
consider,  to  take  a  month  to  think  it  over  - 

Milbrey  gasped.  Shepler,  who  commanded  mar 
kets  to  rise  and  they  rose,  or  to  fall  and  they  fell  — 
Shepler  begging,  entreating  a  child  of  his !  Despite 
the  soul-sickening  tragedy  of  it,  the  situation  was 
not  without  its  element  of  sublimity. 

"  She  will  consider;    she  will  reflect?  " 

'  You're  guessing  now,  and  you're  as  keen  at  that 
as  I.  Avice  is  not  only  amazingly  self-willed,  as 
you  intimated  a  moment  since,  but  she  is  intensely 
secretive.  When  she  left  me  I  could  get  nothing 
from  her  whatever.  She  was  wretchedly  sullen 
and  taciturn." 

"  But  why  should  she  hesitate?  Shepler  —  Rulon 
Shepler !  My  God !  is  the  girl  crazy  ?  The  very 
idea  of  hesitation  is  preposterous!  " 

"  I  can't  divine  her.  You  know  she  has  acted 
perversely  in  the  past.  I  used  to  think  she  might 
have  some  affair  of  which  we  knew  nothing  — 
something  silly  and  romantic.  But  if  she  had  any 
such  thing  I'm  sure  it  was  ended,  and  she'd  have 
jumped  at  this  chance  a  year  ago.  You  know  your 
self  she  was  ready  to  marry  young  Bines,  and  was 
really  disappointed  when  he  didn't  propose." 

"  But  this  is  too  serious."  He  tinkled  the  little 
silver  bell. 

"  Find  out  if  Miss  Avice  will  be  down  to 
breakfast." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  If  she's  not  coming  down  I  shall  go  up,"  de- 
clajed  Mr.  Milbrey  when  the  man  had  gone. 


320  THE    SPENDERS 

"  She's  stubborn,"  cautioned  his  wife. 

"Gad!  don't  I  know  it?" 

Jarvis  returned. 

"  Miss  Avice  won't  be  down,  sir,  and  I'm  to  fetch 
her  up  a  pot  of  coffee,  sir." 

"  Take  it  at  once,  and  tell  her  I  shall  be  up  to  see 
her  presently."  Jarvis  vanished. 

"  I  think  I  see  a  way  to  put  pressure  on  her,  that 
is  if  the  morning  hasn't  already  brought  her  back 
to  her  senses." 

At  four  o'clock  that  afternoon,  Avice  Milbrey's 
ring  brought  Mrs.  Van  Geist's  butler  to  the  door. 

"  Sandon,  is  Aunt  Cornelia  at  home?  " 

"  Yes,  Miss  Milbrey,  she's  confined  to  her  room 
h'account  h'of  a  cold,  miss." 

"  Thank  heaven!  " 

"  Yes,  miss  —  certainly !  will  you  go  h'up  to 
her?" 

"  And  Miitterchen,  dear,  it  was  a  regular  bomb 
shell,"  she  concluded  after  she  had  fluttered  some 
of  the  November  freshness  into  Mrs.  Van  Geist's 
room,  and  breathlessly  related  the  facts. 

"You  demented  creature!  I  should  say  it  must 
have  been." 

"Now,  don't  lecture!" 

"  But  Shepler  is  one  of  the  richest  men  in  New 
York." 

"  Dad  already  suspects  as  much." 

"  And  he's  kind,  he's  a  big-hearted  chap,  a  man 
of  the  world,  generous  —  a  — 

"  '  A  woman  fancier,'  Fidelia  Oldaker  calls  him." 

"  My  dear,  if  he  fancies  you  - 


THE    SPENDERS  321 

"  There,  you  old  conservative,  I've  heard  all  his 
good  points,  and  my  duty  has  been  written  before 
me  in  letters  of  fire.  Dad  devoted  three  hours  to 
writing  it  this  morning,  so  don't,  please,  say  over 
any  of  the  moral  maxims  I'm  likely  to  have  heard." 

"  But  why  are  you  unwilling?  " 

"  Because  —  because  I'm  wild,  I  fancy  —  just  be 
cause  I  don't  like  the  idea  of  marrying  that  man. 
He's  such  a  big,  funny,  round  head,  and  positively 
no  neck  —  his  head  just  rolls  around  on  his  big, 
pillowy  shoulders  —  and  then  he  gets  little  right  at 
once,  tapers  right  off  to  a  point  with  those  tiny  feet." 

"  It  isn't  easy  to  have  everything." 

"  It  wouldn't  be  easy  to  have  him,  either." 

Mrs.  Van  Geist  fixed  her  niece  with  a  sudden 
look  of  suspicion. 

"  Has  —  has  that  man  anything  to  do  with  your 
refusal?" 

"  No  —  not  a  thing  —  I  give  you  my  word, 
auntie.  If  he  had  been  what  I  once  dreamed  he 
was  no  one  would  be  asking  me  to  marry  him  now, 
but  —  do  you  know  what  I've  decided?  Why,  that 
he  is  a  joke  —  that's  all  —  just  a  joke.  You  needn't 
think  of  him,  Miitterchen  —  I  don't,  except  to  think 
it  was  funny  that  he  should  have  impressed  me  so  — 
he's  simply  a  joke." 

"  I  could  have  told  you  as  much  long  ago." 

"  Tell  me  something  now.  Suppose  Fred  marries 
that  Wybert  woman." 

"  It  will  be  a  sorry  day  for  Fred." 

"Of  course!     Now  see  how  I'm  pinned.     Dad 


322  THE    SPENDERS 

and  the  mater  both  say  the  same  now  —  they're 
more  severe  than  I  was.  Only  we  were  never  in 
such  straits  for  money.  It  must  be  had.  So  this 
is  the  gist  of  it :  I  ought  to  marry  Rulon  Shepler 
in  order  to  save  Fred  from  a  marriage  that  might 
get  us  into  all  sorts  of  scandal." 

"Well?" 

"  Well,  I  would  do  a  lot  for  Fred.  He  has  faults, 
but  he's  always  been  good  to  me." 

"And  so?" 

"  And  so  it's  a  question  whether  he  marries  a  very 
certain  kind  of  woman  or  whether  I  marry  a  very 
different  kind  of  man." 

"How  do  you  feel?" 

"  For  one  thing  Fred  sha'n't  get  into  that  kind 
of  muss  if  I  can  save  him  from  it." 

"  Then  you'll  marry  Shepler  ?  " 

"  I'm  still  uncertain  about  Mr.  Shepler." 

"  But  you  say  —  ' 

"  Yes,  I  know,  but  I've  reasons  for  being  uncer 
tain.  If  I  told  you  you'd  say  they're  like  the  most 
of  a  woman's  reasons,  mere  fond,  foolish  hopes,  so 
I  won't  tell  you." 

"  Well,  dear,  work  it  out  by  your  lonely  if  you 
must.  I  believe  you'll  do  what's  best  for  everybody 
in  the  end.  And  I  am  glad  that  your  father  and 
Margaret  take  your  view  of  that  woman." 

"  I  was  sure  she  wasn't  right  —  and  I  knew  Mr. 
Bines  was  too  much  of  a  man  to  speak  of  her  as  he 
did  without  positive  knowledge.  Now  please  give 
me  some  tea  and  funny  little  cakes ;  I'm  famished." 


THE    SPENDERS  323 

"  Speaking  of  Mr.  Bines,"  said  Mrs.  Van  Geist, 
when  the  tea  had  been  brought  by  Sandon,  "  I  read 
in  the  paper  this  morning  that  he'd  taken  a  party  to 
North  Carolina  for  the  quail  shooting,  Eddie  Ar- 
ledge  and  his  wife  and  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Garmer, 
and  of  course  Florence  Akemit.  Should  you  have 
thought  she'd  marry  so  soon  after  her  divorce? 
They  say  Bishop  Doolittle  is  frightfully  vexed  with 
her." 

"  Really  I  hadn't  heard.  Whom  is  Florence  to 
marry?  " 

"  Mr.  Bines,  to  be  sure!  Where  have  you  been? 
You  know  she  was  on  his  yacht  a  whole  month  last 
summer  —  the  bishop's  sister  was  with  her  — 
highly  scandalised  all  the  time  by  the  drinking  and 
gaiety,  and  now  every  one's  looking  for  the  engage 
ment  to  be  announced.  Here,  what  did  I  do  with 
that  Town  Topics  Cousin  Clint  left?  There  it 
is  on  the  tabouret.  Read  the  paragraph  at  the  top 
of  the  page."  Avice  read : 

"  An  engagement  that  is  rumoured  with  uncom 
mon  persistence  will  put  society  on  the  qui  vive 
when  it  is  definitely  announced.  The  man  in  the 
case  is  the  young  son  of  a  mining  Crcesus  from 
Montana,  who  has  inherited  the  major  portion  of 
his  father's  millions  and  who  began  to  dazzle  upper 
Broadway  about  a  year  since  by  the  reckless  prodi 
gality  of  his  ways.  His  blond  innamorata  is  a 
recent  divorcee  of  high  social  standing,  noted  for  her 
sparkling  wit  and  an  unflagging  exuberance  of 


324  THE    SPENDERS 

spirits.  The  interest  of  the  gossips,  however,  cen 
tres  chiefly  in  the  uncle  of  the  lady,  a  Right  Rev 
erend  presiding  over  a  bishopric  not  a  thousand 
miles  from  New  York,  and  in  the  attitude  he  will 
assume  toward  her  contemplated  remarriage.  At 
the  last  Episcopal  convention  this  godly  and  well- 
learned  gentleman  was  a  vehement  supporter  of  the 
proposed  canon  to  prohibit  absolutely  the  marriage 
of  divorced  persons;  and  though  he  stoutly  cham 
pioned  his  bewitching  niece  through  the  infelicities 
that  eventuated  in  South  Dakota,  on  dit  that  he  is 
highly  wrought  up  over  her  present  intentions,  and 
has  signified  unmistakably  his  severest  disapproval. 
However,  nous  verrons  ce  que  nous  verrons." 

"  But,  Miitterchen,  that's  only  one  of  those  ab 
surd,  vulgar  things  that  wretched  paper  is  always 
printing.  I  could  write  dozens  of  them  myself. 
Tom  Banning  says  they  keep  one  man  writing  them 
all  the  time,  out  of  his  own  imagination,  and  then 
they  put  them  in  like  raisins  in  a  cake." 

"  But,  my  dear,  I'm  quite  sure  this  is  authentic. 
I  know  from  Fidelia  Oldaker  that  the  bishop  began 
to  cut  up  about  it  to  Florence,  and  Florence  defied 
him.  That  ancient  theory  that  most  gossip  is  with 
out  truth  was  exploded  long  ago.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  most  gossip,  at  least  about  the  people  we  know, 
doesn't  do  half  justice  to  the  facts.  But,  really,  I 
can't  see  why  he  fancied  Florence  Akemit.  I  should 
have  thought  he'd  want  some  one  a  bit  less  fluttery." 

"  I   dare  say  you're  right,   about   the   gossip,    I 


THE    SPENDERS  325 

mean  — "  Miss  Milbrey  remarked  when  she  had 
finished  her  tea,  and  refused  the  cakes.  "  I  remem 
ber,  now,  one  day  when  we  met  at  her  place,  and  he 
seemed  so  much  at  home  there.  Of  course,  it  must 
be  so.  How  stupid  of  me  to  doubt  it !  Now  I  must 
run.  Good-bye,  you  old  dear,  and  be  good  to  the 
cold." 

"  Let  me  know  what  you  do." 

"Indeed  I  shall;  you  shall  be  the  first  one  to 
know.  My  mind  is  really,  you  know,  almost  made 
up." 

A  week  later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Horace  Milbrey  an 
nounced  in  the  public  prints  the  engagement  of  their 
daughter  Avice  to  Mr.  Rulon  Shepler. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

Uncle  Peter  Bines  Comes  to   Town    With  His  Man 

ONE  day  in  December  Peter  Bines  of  Montana 
City  dropped  in  on  the  family,  —  came  with 
his  gaunt  length  of  limb,  his  kind,  brown  old 
face  with  eyes  sparkling  shrewdly  far  back  under 
his  grizzled  brows,  with  his  rough,  resonant,  musical 
voice,  the  spring  of  youth  in  his  step,  and  the  fresh, 
confident  strength  of  the  big  hills  in  his  bearing. 

He  brought  Billy  Brue  with  him,  a  person  whose 
exact  social  status  some  of  Percival's  friends  were 
never  able  to  fix  with  any  desirable  certainty.  Thus, 
Percival  had  presented  the  old  man,  the  morning 
after  his  arrival,  to  no  less  a  person  than  Herbert 
Delancey  Livingston,  with  whom  he  had  smoked 
a  cigar  of  unusual  excellence  in  the  cafe  of  the 
Hightower  Hotel. 

"  If  you  fancy  that  weed,  Mr.  Bines,"  said  Liv 
ingston,  graciously,  to  the  old  man,  "  I've  a  spare 
couple  of  hundred  I'd  like  to  let  you  have.  The 
things  were  sent  me,  but  I  find  them  rather  stiffish. 
If  your  man's  about  the  hotel  I'll  give  him  a  card 
to  my  man,  and  let  him  fetch  them." 

"My  man?"  queried  Uncle  Peter,  and,  sighting 
326 


THE    SPENDERS  327 

Billy  Brue  at  that  moment,  "  why,  yes,  here's  my 
man,  now.  Mr.  Brue,  shake  hands  with  Mr.  Living 
ston.  Billy,  go  up  to  the  address  he  gives  you,  and 
get  some  of  these  se-gars.  You'll  relish  'em  as  much 
as  I  do.  Now  don't  talk  to  any  strangers,  don't  get 
run  over,  and  don't  lose  yourself." 

Livingston  had  surrendered  a  wavering  and  un 
certain  hand  to  the  warm,  reassuring  clasp  of  Mr. 
Brue. 

"  He  ain't  much  fur  style,  Billy  ain't,"  Uncle 
Peter  explained  when  that  person  had  gone  upon 
his  errand,  "  he  ain't  a  mite  gaudy,  but  he's  got 
friendly  feelings." 

The  dazed  scion  of  the  Livingstons  had  thereupon 
made  a  conscientious  tour  of  his  clubs  in  a  public 
hansom,  solely  for  the  purpose  of  relating  this  curi 
ous  adventure  to  those  best  qualified  to  marvel 
at  it. 

The  old  man's  arrival  had  been  quite  unexpected. 
Not  only  had  he  sent  no  word  of  his  coming,  but 
he  seemed,  indeed,  not  to  know  what  his  reasons 
had  been  for  doing  a  thing  so  unusual. 

"  Thought  I'd  just  drop  in  on  you  all  and  say 
'  howdy,'  "  had  been  his  first  avowal,  which  was 
lucid  as  far  as  it  went.  Later  he  involved  himself 
in  explanations  that  were  both  obscure  and  conflict 
ing.  Once  it  was  that  he  had  felt  a  sudden  great 
longing  for  the  life  of  a  gay  city.  Then  it  was  that 
he  would  have  been  content  in  Montana  City,  but 
that  he  had  undertaken  the  winter  in  New  York  out 
of  consideration  for  Billy  Brue. 


328  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Just  think  of  it,"  he  said  to  Percival,  "  that 
poor  fellow  ain't  ever  been  east  of  Denver  before 
now.  It  wa'n't  good  for  him  to  be  holed  up  out 
there  in  them  hills  all  his  life.  He  hadn't  got  any 
chance  to  improve  his  mind/' 

"  He'd  better  improve  his  whiskers  first  thing  he 
does,"  suggested  Percival.  "  He'll  be  gold-bricked 
if  he  wears  'em  scrambled  that  way  around  this 
place." 

But  in  neither  of  these  explanations  did  the 
curious  old  man  impress  Percival  as  being  wholly 
ingenuous. 

Then  he  remarked  casually  one  day  that  he  had 
lately  met  Higbee,  who  was  on  his  way  to  San 
Francisco. 

"  I  only  had  a  few  minutes  with  him  while  they 
changed  engines  at  Green  River,  but  he  told  me  all 
about  you  folks  —  what  a  fine  time  you  was  havin', 
yachts  and  card-parties,  and  all  like  that.  Higbee 
said  a  man  had  ought  to  come  to  New  York  every 
now  and  then,  jest  to  keep  from  gettin'  rusty." 

Back  of  this  Percival  imagined  for  a  time  that 
he  had  discovered  Uncle  Peter's  true  reason  for 
descending  upon  them.  Higbee  would  have  regaled 
him  with  wild  tales  of  the  New  York  dissipations, 
and  Uncle  Peter  had  come  promptly  on  to  pull  him 
up.  Percival  could  hear  the  story  as  Higbee  would 
word  it,  with  the  improving  moral  incident  of  his 
own  son  snatched  as  a  brand  from  the  "  Tender 
loin,"  to  live  a  life  of  impecunious  usefulness  in  far 
Chicago.  But,  when  he  tried  to  hold  this  belief,  and 


THE    SPENDERS  329 

to  prove  it  from  his  observations,  he  was  bound  to 
admit  its  falsity.  For  Uncle  Peter  had  shown  no 
inclination  to  act  the  part  of  an  evangel  from  the 
virtuous  West.  He  had  delivered  no  homilies,  no 
warnings  as  to  the  fate  of  people  who  incontinently 
"  cut  loose."  He  had  evinced  not  the  least  sign  of 
any  disposition  even  to  criticise. 

On  the  contrary,  indeed,  he  appeared  to  joy 
immensely  in  Percival's  way  of  life.  He  manifested 
a  willingness  and  a  capacity  for  unbending  in  boon 
companionship  that  were,  both  of  them,  quite  amaz 
ing  to  his  accomplished  grandson.  By  degrees,  and 
by  virtue  of  being  never  at  all  censorious,  he  famil 
iarised  himself  with  the  young  man's  habits  and 
diversions.  He  listened  delightedly  to  the  tales  of 
his  large  gambling  losses,  of  the  bouts  at  poker,  the 
fruitless  venture  in  Texas  Oil  land,  the  disastrous 
corner  in  wheat,  engineered  by  Burman,  and  the 
uniformly  unsuccessful  efforts  to  "  break  the  bank  " 
in  Forty-fourth  Street.  He  never  tired  of  hearing 
whatever  adventures  Percival  chose  to  relate;  and, 
finding  that  he  really  enjoyed  them,  the  young  man 
came  to  confide  freely  in  him,  and  to  associate  with 
him  without  restraint. 

Uncle  Peter  begged  to  be  introduced  at  the  tem 
ple  of  chance,  and  spent  a  number  of  late  evenings 
there  with  his  popular  grandson.  He  also  fre 
quently  made  himself  one  of  the  poker  coterie,  and 
relished  keenly  the  stock  jokes  as  to  his  grandson's 
proneness  to  lose. 

"  Your  pa/'  he  would  say,  "  never  could  learn  to 


330  THE    SPENDERS 

stay  out  of  a  Jack-pot  unless  he  had  Jacks  or  better ; 
he'd  come  in  and  draw  four  cards  to  an  ace  any 
time,  and  then  call  it  '  hard  luck  '  when  he  didn't 
draw  out.  And  he  just  loved  straights  open  in 
the  middle ;  said  anybody  could  fill  them  that's  open 
at  both  ends;  but,  after  all,  I  guess  that's  the  only 
way  to  have  fun  at  the  game.  If  a  man  ain't  got 
the  sperrit  to  overplay  aces-up  when  he  gets  'em,  he 
might  as  well  be  clerkin'  in  a  bank  for  all  the  fun 
he'll  have  out  of  the  game." 

The  old  man's  endurance  of  late  suppers  and 
later  hours,  and  his  unsuspected  disposition  to  "  cut 
loose,"  became  twin  marvels  to  Percival.  He  could 
not  avoid  contrasting  this  behaviour  with  his  past 
preaching.  After  a  few  weeks  he  was  forced  to 
the  charitable  conclusion  that  Uncle  Peter's  faculties 
were  failing.  The  exposure  and  hardships  of  the 
winter  before  had  undoubtedly  impaired  his  mental 
powers. 

"  I  can't  make  him  out,"  he  confided  to  his 
mother.  "  He  never  wants  to  go  home  nights;  he 
can  drink  more  than  I  can  without  batting  an  eye, 
and  show  up  fresher  in  the  morning,  and  he  behaves 
like  a  young  fellow  just  out  of  college.  I  don't 
know  where  he  would  bring  up  if  he  didn't  have 
me  to  watch  over  him." 

"1  think  it's  just  awful  —  at  his  time  of  life, 
too,"  said  Mrs.  Bines. 

"  I  think  that's  it.  He's  getting  old,  and  he's 
come  along  into  his  second  childhood.  A  couple 
of  more  months  at  this  rate,  and  I'm  afraid  I'll  have 


THE   SPENDERS  331 

to  ring-  up  one  of  those  nice  shiny  black  wagons 
to  take  him  off  to  the  foolish-house." 

"  Can't  you  talk  to  him,  and  tell  him  better?  " 

"  I  could.  I  know  it  all  by  heart  —  all  the  things 
to  say  to  a  man  on  the  downward  path.  Heaven 
knows  I've  heard  them  often  enough,  but  I'd  feel 
ashamed  to  talk  that  way  to  Uncle  Peter.  If  he 
were  my  son,  now,  I'd  cut  off  his  allowance  and 
send  him  back  to  make  something  of  himself,  like 
Sile  Higbee  with  little  Hennery ;  but  I'm  afraid 
all  I  can  do  is  to  watch  him  and  see  that  he  doesn't 
marry  one  of  those  little  pink-silk  chorus  girls,  or 
lick  a  policeman,  or  anything." 

'  You're  carryin'  on  the  same  way  yourself," 
ventured  his  mother. 

"  That's  different,"  replied  her  perspicacious  son. 

Uncle  Peter  had  refused  to  live  at  the  Hightower 
after  three  days  in  that  splendid  and  populous 
caravansary. 

"  It  suits  me  well  enough,"  he  explained  to  Per- 
cival,  "  but  I  have  to  look  after  Billy  Brue,  and 
this  ain't  any  place  for  Billy.  You  see  Billy  ain't 
city  broke  yet.  Look  at  him  now  over  there,  the 
way  he  goes  around  butting  into  strangers.  He 
does  that  way  because  he's  all  the  time  looking 
down  at  his  new  patent-leather  shoes  —  first  pair 
he  ever  had.  He'll  be  plumb  stoop-shouldered  if 
he  don't  hurry  up  and  get  the  new  kicked  off  of 
'em.  I'll  have  to  get  him  a  nice  warm  box-stall 
in  some  place  that  ain't  so  much  on  the  band-wagon 
as  this  one.  The  ceilings  here  are  too  high  fur 


332  rHE   SPENDERS 

Billy.  And  I  found  him  shootin'  craps  with  the 
bell-boy  this  mornin'.  The  boy  thinks  Billy,  bein' 
from  the  West,  is  a  stage  robber,  or  somethin' 
like  he  reads  about  in  the  Cap'  Collier  libr'ies,  and 
follows  him  around  every  chance  he  gets.  And 
Billy  laps  up  too  many  of  them  little  striped  drinks ; 
and  them  French-cooked  dishes  ain't  so  good  fur 
him,  either.  He  caught  on  to  the  bill-of-fare  right 
away.  Now  he  won't  order  anything  but  them 
alias  —  them  dishes  that  has  '  a  la  '  something  or 
other  after  'em,"  he  explained,  when  Percival 
looked  puzzled.  "  He  knows  they'll  always  be 
something  all  fussed  up  with  red,  white,  and  blue 
gravy,  and  a  little  paper  bouquet  stuck  into  'em.  I 
never  knew  Billy  was  such  a  fancy  eater  before." 

So  Uncle  Peter  and  his  charge  had  established 
themselves  in  an  old-fashioned  but  very  comfort 
able  hotel  down  on  one  of  the  squares,  a  dingy 
monument  to  the  time  when  life  had  been  less  hur 
ried.  Uncle  Peter  had  stayed  there  thirty  years 
before,  and  he  found  the  place  unchanged.  The 
carpets  and  hangings  were  a  bit  faded,  but  the 
rooms  were  generously  broad,  the  chairs,  as  the 
old  man  remarked,  were  "  made  to  sit  in,"  and 
the  cuisine  was  held,  by  a  few  knowing  old  epicures 
who  still  frequented  the  place,  to  be  superior  even 
to  that  of  the  more  pretentious  Hightower.  The 
service,  it  is  true,  was  apt  to  be  slow.  Stran 
gers  who  chanced  in  to  order  a  meal  not  infre 
quently  became  enraged,  and  left  before  their  food 
came,  trailing  plain  short  words  of  extreme  dis- 


THE    SPENDERS  333 

satisfaction  behind  them  as  they  went.  But  the 
elect  knew  that  these  delays  betokened  the  presence 
of  an  artistic  conscience  in  the  kitchen,  and  that 
the  food  was  worth  tarrying  for.  "  They  know 
how  to  make  you  come  back  hungry  for  some  more 
the  next  day,"  said  Uncle  Peter  Bines. 

From  this  headquarters  the  old  man  went  forth  to 
join  in  the  diversions  of  his  grandson.  And  here  he 
kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  the  uncertain  Billy  Brue ; 
at  least  approximately.  Between  them,  his  days  and 
nights  were  occupied  to  crowding.  But  Uncle  Peter 
had  already  put  in  some  hard  winters,  and  was 
not  wanting  in  fortitude. 

Billy  Brue  was  a  sore  trouble  to  the  old  man. 
"  I  jest  can't  keep  him  off  the  streets  nights,"  was 
his  chief  complaint.  By  day  Billy  Brue  walked 
the  streets  in  a  decent,  orderly  trance  of  bewilder 
ment.  He  was  properly  puzzled  and  amazed  by 
many  strange  matters.  He  never  could  find  out 
what  was  "  going  on "  to  bring  so  many  folks 
into  town.  They  all  hurried  somewhere  constantly, 
but  he  was  never  able  to  reach  the  centre  of  excite 
ment.  Nor  did  he  ever  learn  how  any  one  could 
reach  those  high  clothes-lines,  strung  forty  feet 
above  ground  between  the  backs  of  houses;  nor 
how  there  could  be  "  so  many  shows  in  town,  all  on 
one  night;  "  nor  why  you  should  get  so  many  good 
things  to  eat  by  merely  buying  a  "  slug  of  whis 
key  ;  "  nor  why  a  thousand  people  weren't  run  over 
in  Broadway  each  twenty-four  hours. 

At  night,  Billy  Brue  ceased  to  be  the  astounded 


334  THE   SPENDERS 

alien,  and,  as  Percival  said  Dr.  Von  Herzlich  would 
say,  "  began  to  mingle  and  cooperate  with  his  en 
vironment."  In  the  course  of  this  process  he  fell 
into  adventures,  some  of  them,  perhaps,  unedifying. 
But  it  may  be  told  that  his  silver  watch  with  the 
braided  leather  fob  was  stolen  from  him  the  second 
night  out;  also  that  the  following  week,  in  a 
Twenty-ninth  Street  saloon,  he  accepted  the  hos 
pitality  of  an  affable  stranger,  who  had  often  been 
in  Montana  City.  His  explanation  of  subsequent 
events  was  entirely  satisfactory,  at  least,  from  the 
time  that  he  returned  to  consciousness  of  them. 

"  I  only  had  about  thirty  dollars  in  my  clothes," 
he  told  Percival,  "  but  what  made  me  so  darned  hot, 
he  took  my  breastpin,  too,  made  out  of  the  first 
nugget  ever  found  in  the  Early  Bird  mine  over 
Silver  Bow  way.  Gee!  when  I  woke  up  I  couldn't 
tell  where  I  was.  This  cop  that  found  me  in  a 
hallway,  he  says  I  must  have  been  give  a  dose  of 
Peter.  I  says,  '  All  right  —  I'm  here  to  go  against 
all  the  games,'  I  says,  '  but  pass  me  when  the  Peter 
comes  around  again,'  I  says.  And  he  says  Peter 
was  knockout  drops.  Say,  honestly,  I  didn't  know 
my  own  name  till  I  had  a  chanst  to  look  me  over. 
The  clothes  and  my  hands  looked  like  I'd  seen  'em 
before,  somehow  —  and  then  I  come  to  myself." 

After  this  adventure,  Uncle  Peter  would  caution 
him  of  an  evening: 

"  Now,  Billy,  don't  stay  out  late.  If  you  ain't 
been  gone  through  by  eleven,  just  hand  what  you 
got  on  you  over  to  the  first  man  you  meet  —  none 


THE    SPENDERS  335 

of  'em'll  ask  any  questions  —  and  then  pike  fur 
home.  The  later  at  night  it  gets  in  New  York  the 
harder  it  is  fur  strangers  to  stay  alive.  You're  all 
right  in  Wardner  or  Hellandgone,  Billy,  but  in  this 
here  camp  you're  jest  a  tender  little  bed  of  pansies 
by  the  wayside,  and  these  New  Yorkers  are  ter 
rible  careless  where  they  step  after  dark." 

Notwithstanding  which,  Mr.  Brue  continued  to 
behave  uniformly  in  a  manner  to  make  all  judicious 
persons  grieve.  His  place  of  supreme  delight  was 
the  Hightower.  Its  marble  splendours,  its  myriad 
lights,  the  throngs  of  men  and  women  in  evening 
dress,  made  for  him  a  scene  of  unfailing  fascina 
tion.  The  evenings  when  he  was  invited  to  sit 
in  the  cafe  with  Uncle  Peter  and  Percival  made 
memories  long  to  be  cherished. 

He  spent  such  an  evening  there  at  the  end  of 
their  first  month  in  New  York.  Half  a  dozen  of 
Percival's  friends  sat  at  the  table  with  them  from 
time  to  time.  There  had  been  young  Beverly  Van 
Arsdel,  who,  Percival  disclosed,  was  heir  to  all  the 
Van  Arsdel  millions,  and  no  end  of  a  swell.  And 
there  was  big,  handsome,  Eddie  Arledge,  whose 
father  had  treated  him  shabbily.  These  two  young 
gentlemen  spoke  freely  about  the  inferiority  of 
many  things  "  on  this  side "  —  as  they  denomi 
nated  this  glorious  Land  of  Freedom  —  of  many 
things  from  horses  to  wine.  The  country  was  rap 
idly  becoming,  they  agreed,  no  place  for  a  gentle 
man  to  live.  Eddie  Arledge  confessed  that,  from 
motives  of  economy,  he  had  been  beguiled  into 
purchasing  an  American  claret. 


336  THE    SPENDERS 

"  I  fancied,  yon  know,"  he  explained  to  Uncle 
Peter,  "  that  it  might  do  for  an  ordinary  luncheon 
claret,  but  on  my  sacred  honour,  the  stuff  is  vil 
lainous.  Now  you'll  agree  with  me,  Mr.  Bines, 
I  dare  say,  that  a  Bordeaux  of  even  recent  vintage 
is  vastly  superior  to  the  very  best  so-called 
American  claret." 

Whereupon  Beverly  Van  Arsdel  having  said,  "To 
be  sure  —  fancy  an  American  Burgundy,  now !  or 
a  Chablis ! "  Uncle  Peter  betrayed  the  first  sign 
of  irritation  Percival  had  detected  since  his  coming. 

"  Well,  you  see,  young  men,  we're  not  much  on 
vintages  in  Montana.  Whiskey  is  mostly  our  drink 
-  whiskey  and  spring  water  —  and  if  our  whiskey 
is  strong,  it's  good  enough.  When  we  want  to 
test  a  new  barrel,  we  inject  three  drops  of  it  into 
a  jack-rabbit,  and  if  he  doesn't  lick  a  bull  dog  in 
six  seconds,  we  turn  down  the  goods.  That's  as 
far's  our  education  has  ever  gone  in  vintages." 

It  sounded  like  the  old  Uncle  Peter,  but  he  was 
afterward  so  good-natured  that  Percival  concluded 
the  irritation  could  have  been  but  momentary. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

Uncle  Peter  Bines   Threatens  to  Raise  Something 

UNCLE  PETER  and  Billy  Brue  left  the  High- 
tower  at  midnight.     Billy   Brue  wanted  to 
walk  down  to  their  hotel,  on  the  plea  that 
they  might  see  a  fight  or  a  fire  "  or  something." 
He  never  ceased  to  feel  cheated  when  he  was  obliged 
to  ride  in  New  York.     But  Uncle  Peter  insisted  on 
the  cab. 

"  Say,  Uncle  Peter,"  he  said,  as  they  rode  down, 
"  I  got  a  good  notion  to  get  me  one  of  them  first- 
part  suits  —  like  the  minstrels  wear  in  the  grand 
first  part,  you  know  —  only  I'd  never  be  able  to 
git  on  to  the  track  right  without  a  hostler  to  harness 
me  and  see  to  all  the  buckles  and  cinch  the  straps 
right.  They're  mighty  fine,  though." 

Finding  Uncle  Peter  uncommunicative,  he  mused 
during  the  remainder  of  the  ride,  envying  the  care 
less  ease  with  which  Percival  and  his  friends,  and 
even  Uncle  Peter,  wore  the  prescribed  evening  re 
galia  of  gentlemen,  and  yearning  for  the  distin 
guished  effect  of  its  black  and  white  elegance  upon 
himself. 

337 


338  THE    SPENDERS 

They  went  to  their  connecting  rooms,  and  Billy 
Brue  regretfully  sought  his  bed,  marvelling  how 
free  people  in  a  town  like  New  York  could  ever 
bring  themselves  to  waste  time  in  sleep.  As  he 
dozed  off,  he  could  hear  the  slow,  measured  tread 
of  Uncle  Peter  pacing  the  floor  in  the  next  room. 

He  was  awakened  by  hearing  his  name  called. 
Uncle  Peter  stood  in  a  flood  of  light  at  the  door 
of  his  room.  He  was  fully  dressed. 

"Awake,  Billy?" 

"  Is  it  gittin'-up  time?  " 

The  old  man  came  into  the  room  and  lighted  a 
gas-jet.  He  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  No ;  only  a  quarter  to  four.  I  ain't  been  to 
bed  yet." 

Billy  Brue  sat  up  and  rubbed  his  eyes. 

"  Rheumatiz  again,  Uncle  Peter?" 

"No;  I  been  thinkin',  Billy.  How  do  you  like 
the  game?  " 

He  began  to  pace  the  floor  again  from  one  room 
to  the  other. 

"What  game'"  Billy  Brue  had  encountered  a 
number  in  New  York. 

'  This  whole  game  —  livin'  in  New  York." 

Mr.  Brue  became  judicial. 

"  It's  a  good  game  as  long  as  you  got  money 
to  buy  chips.  I'd  hate  like  darnation  to  go  broke 
here.  All  the  pay-claims  have  been  located,  I  guess." 

"  I  doubt  it's  bein'  a  good  game  any  time,  Billy. 
I  been  actin'  as  kind  of  a  lookout  now  fur  about 
forty  days  and  forty  nights,  and  the  chances  is  all 


THE    SPENDERS  339 

in  favour  of  the  house.  You  don't  even  get  half 
your  money  on  the  high  card  when  the  splits  come." 

Billy  Brue  pondered  this  sentiment.  It  was  not 
his  own. 

"  The  United  States  of  America  is  all  right, 
Billy." 

This  was  safe  ground. 

"  Sure!  "  His  mind  reverted  to  the  evening  just 
past.  "  Of  course  there  was  a  couple  of  Clarences 
in  high  collars  there  to-night  that  made  out  like 
they  was  throwin'  it  down ;  but  they  ain't  the  whole 
thing,  not  by  a  long  shot." 

"  Yes,  and  that  young  shrimp  that  was  talkin' 
about  '  vintages  '  and  '  trouserings.'  '  The  old  man 
paused  in  his  walk. 

"What  are  'trouserings/  Billy?" 

Mr.  Brue  had  not  looked  into  shop  windows 
day  after  day  without  enlarging  his  knowledge. 

''  Trouserings,"  he  proclaimed,  rather  impor 
tantly,  "  is  the  cloth  they  make  pants  out  of." 

"  Oh !  is  that  all  ?  I  didn't  know  but  it  might 
be  some  new  kind  of  duds.  And  that  fellow  don't 
ever  get  up  till  eleven  o'clock  A.M.  I  don't  reckon 
I  would  myself  if  I  didn't  have  anything  but  trous 
erings  and  vintages  to  worry  about.  And  that 
Van  Arsdel  boy!  " 

"  Say !  "  said  Billy,  with  enthusiasm.  "  I  never 
thought  I'd  be  even  in  the  same  room  with  one  of 
that  family,  'less  I  prized  open  the  door  with  a 
jimmy." 

"  Well,  who's  he?     My  father  knew  his  grand- 


340  THE    SPENDERS 

father  when  he  kep'  tavern  over  on  the  Raritan 
River,  and  his  grandmother !  —  this  shrimp's  grand 
mother! —  she  tended  bar." 

"Gee!" 

"  Yes,  they  kep'  tavern,  and  the  old  lady  passed 
the  rum  bottle  over  the  bar,  and  took  in  the  greasy 
money.  This  here  fellow,  now,  couldn't  make  an 
honest  livin'  like  that,  I  bet  you.  He's  like  a  dog- 
breeder  would  say  —  got  the  pedigree,  but  not  the 
points." 

Mr.  Brue  emitted  a  high,  throaty  giggle. 

"  But  they  ain't  all  like  that  here,  Uncle  Peter. 
Say,  you  come  out  with  me  some  night  jest  in 
your  workin'  clothes.  I  can  show  you  people  all 
right  that  won't  ask  to  see  your  union  card.  Say, 
on  the  dead,  Uncle  Peter,  I  wish  you'd  come. 
There's  a  lady  perfessor  in  a  dime  museum  right 
down  here  on  Fourteenth  Street  that  eats  fire  and 
juggles  the  big  snakes ;  —  say,  she's  got  a  com 
plexion  - 

"  There's  enough  like  that  kind,  though,"  inter 
rupted  Uncle  Peter.  "  I  could  take  a  double-barrel 
shotgun  up  to  that  hotel  and  get  nine  with  each 
barrel  around  in  them  hallways ;  the  shot  wouldn't 
have  to  be  rammed,  either;  'twouldn't  have  to 
scatter  so  blamed  much." 

"Oh,  well,  them  society  sports  —  there's  got  to 
be  some  of  them  — 

"  Yes.  and  the  way  they  make  'em  reminds  me 
of  what  Dal  Mutzig  tells  about  the  time  they  started 
Pasco.  '  What  you  fellows  makin'  a  town  here 
fur?'  Dal  says  he  asked  'em.  and  he  says  they 


THE    SPENDERS  341 

says,  'Well,  why  not?  The  land  ain't  good  fur 
anything  else,  is  it  ?  '  they  says.  That's  the  way 
with  these  shrimps;  they  ain't  good  fur  anything 
else.  There's  that  Arledge,  the  lad  that  keeps  his 
mouth  hangin'  open  all  the  time  he's  lookin'  at  you 
-  he'll  catch  cold  in  his  works,  first  thing  he  knows 
—  with  his  gold  monogram  on  his  cigarettes." 

"  He  said  he  was  poor,"  urged  Billy,  who  had 
been  rather  taken  with  the  ease  of  Arledge's  manner. 

''Fine,  big,  handsome  fellow,  ain't  he?  Strong 
as  an  ox,  active,  and  perfectly  healthy,  ain't  he? 
Well,  he's  a  pill!  But  Jiis  old  man  must  'a'  been  on  to 
him.  Here,  here's  a  piece  in  the  paper  about  that 
tine  big  strappin'  giant  —  it's  partly  what  got 
me  to  thinkin'  to-night,  so  I  couldn't  sleep.  Just 
listen  to  this,"  and  Uncle  Peter  read : 

"  E.  Wadsworth  Arledge,  son  of  the  late  James 
Townsend  Arledge,  of  the  dry-goods  firm  of  Ar 
ledge  &  Jackson,  presented  a  long  affidavit  to  Justice 
Dutcher,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  yesterday,  to  show 
why  his  income  of  six  thousand  dollars  a  year  from 
his  father's  estate  should  not  be  abridged  to  pay 
a  debt  of  $489.32.  Henry  T.  Gotleib,  a  grocer, 
who  obtained  a  judgment  for  that  amount  against 
him  in  1895,  and  has  been  unable  to  collect,  asked 
the  Court  to  enjoin  Judge  Henley  P.  Manderson, 
and  the  Union  Fidelity  Trust  Company,  as  exec 
utors  of  the  Arledge  estate,  from  paying  Mr. 
Arledge  his  full  income  until  the  debt  has  been 
discharged.  Gotleib  contended  that  Arledge  could 
sustain  the  reduction  required. 


342  THE    SPENDERS 

"  James  T.  Arledge  died  about  two  years  ago, 
leaving  an  estate  of  about  $3,000,000.  He  had 
disapproved  of  the  marriage  of  his  son  and  evinced 
his  displeasure  in  his  will.  The  son  had  married 
Flora  Florenza,  an  actress.  To  the  son  was  given 
an  income  of  $6,000  a  year  for  life.  The  rest  of 
the  estate  went  to  the  testator's  widow  for  life,  and 
then  to  charity. 

"  Here  is  the  affidavit  of  E.  Wadsworth  Ar 
ledge  : 

"  '  I  have  been  brought  up  in  idleness,  under  the 
idea  that  1  was  to  inherit  a  large  estate.  I  have 
never  acquired  any  business  habits  so  as  to  fit  me 
to  acquire  property,  or  to  make  me  take  care  of  it. 

"  '  I  have  never  been  in  business,  except  many 
years  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy,  when  I  was  for  a 
short  time  employed  in  one  of  the  stores  owned 
by  my  father.  For  many  years  prior  to  my  father's 
death  I  was  not  employed,  but  lived  on  a  liberal 
allowance  made  to  me  by  him.  I  am  a  married 
man,  and  in  addition  to  my  wife  have  a  family  of 
two  children  to  support  from  my  income. 

"  '  All  our  friends  are  persons  of  wealth  and  of 
high  social  standing,  and  we  are  compelled  to  spend 
money  in  entertaining  the  many  friends  who  enter 
tain  us.  I  am  a  member  of  many  expensive  clubs.  I 
have  absolutely  no  income  except  the  allowance  I 
receive  from  my  father's  estate,  and  the  same  is 
barely  sufficient  to  support  my  family. 


THE    SPENDERS  343 

"  '  I  have  received  no  technical  or  scientific  edu 
cation,  fitting  me  for  any  business  or  profession, 
and  should  I  be  deprived  of  any  portion  of  my 
income,  I  will  be  plunged  in  debt  anew.' 

"  The  Court  reserved  decision." 

"  You  hear  that,  Billy  ?  The  Court  reserved 
decision.  Mr.  Arledge  has  to  buy  so  many  gold 
cigarettes  and  vintages'  and  trouserings,  and  belong 
to  so  many  clubs,  that  he  wants  the  Court  to  help 
him  chouse  a  poor  grocer  out  of  his  money.  Say, 
Billy,  that  judge  could  fine  me  for  contempt  of 
court,  right  now,  fur  reservin'  his  decision.  You 
bet  Mr.  Arledge  would  'a'  got  my  decision  right 
hot  off  the  griddle.  I'd  'a'  told  him,  '  You're  the 
meanest  kind  of  a  crook  I  ever  heard  of  fur  wantin' 
to  lie  down  on  your  fat  back  and  whine  out  of 
payin'  fur  the  grub  you  put  in  your  big  gander 
paunch/  I'd  tell  him,  '  and  now  you  march  to 
the  lock-up  till  you  can  look  honest  folks  in  the 
face/  I'd  tell  him.  Say.  Billy,  some  crooks  are 
worse  than  others.  Take  Nate  Leverson  out  there. 
Nate  set  up  night  and  day  for  six  years  inventin' 
a  process  fur  sweatin'  gold  into  ore;  finally  he 
gets  it;  how  he  does  it,  nobody  knows,  but  he 
sweat  gold  eighteen  inches  into  the  solid  rock. 
The  first  few  holes  he  salted  he  gets  rid  of  all  right, 
then  of  course  they  catch  him,  and  Nate's  doin' 
time  now.  But  say,  I  got  respect  fur  Nate  since 
readiir  that  piece.  There's  a  good  deal  of  a  man 
about  him,  or  about  any  common  burglar  or  sneak 


344  THE    SPENDERS 

thief,  compared  to  this  duck.  They  take  chances, 
say  nothin'  of  the  hard  work  they  do.  This  fellow 
won't  take  a  chance  and  won't  work  a  day.  Billy, 
that's  the  meanest  specimen  of  crook  I  ever  run 
against,  bar  none,  and  that  crook  is  produced  and 
tolerated  in  a  place  that's  said  to  be  the  centre  of 
'  culture  and  refinement  and  practical  achievement/ 
Billy,  he's  a  pill!" 

"  That's  right,"  said  Billy  Brue,  promptly  throw 
ing  the  recalcitrant  Arledge  overboard. 

"  But  it  ain't  none  of  my  business.  What  I  do 
spleen  again,  is  havin'  a  grandson  of  mine  livin' 
in  a  community  where  a  man  that'll  act  like  that 
is  actually  let  in  their  houses  by  honest  folks. 
Think  of  a  son  of  Daniel  J.  Bines  treatin'  folks 
like  that  as  if  they  was  his  equals.  Say,  Dan'l 
had  a  line  of  faults,  all  right  —  but,  by  God !  he'd 
a  trammed  ore  fur  two  twenty-five  a  day  any  time 
in  his  life  rather'n  not  pay  a  dollar  he  owed.  And 
think  of  this  lad  making  his  bed  in  this  kind  of 
a  place  where  men  are  brought  up  to  them  ways ; 
and  that  name;  think  of  a  husky,  two-fisted  boy 
like  him  lettin'  himself  be  called  by  a  measly  little 
gum-drop  name  like  Percival,  when  he's  got  a  right 
to  be  called  Pete.  And  he's  right  in  with  'em. 
He'd  be  jest  as  bad  —  give  him  a  little  time ;  and 
Pishy  engaged  to  a  damned  fortune-hunting  Eng 
lishman  into  the  bargain.  It's  all  Higbee  said  it 
was,  only  it  goes  double.  Say,  Billy,  I  been  thinkin' 
this  over  all  night." 

"  'Tis  mighty  worryin',  ain't  it,  Uncle  Peter?" 


THE    SPENDERS  345 

"  And  I  got  it  thought  out." 

"  Sure,  you  must  'a'  got  it  down  to  eases." 

"  Billy,  listen  now.  There's  a  fellow  down  in 
Wall  Street.  His  name  is  Shepler,  Rulon  Shepler. 
He's  most  the  biggest  man  down  there." 

"Sure!     I  heard  of  him." 

"Listen!  I'm  goin'  to  bed  now.  I  can  sleep 
since  I  got  my  mind  made  up.  But  I  want  to  see 
Shepler  in  private  to-morrow.  Don't  wake  me 
up  in  the  morning.  But  get  up  yourself,  and  go 
find  his  office  —  look  in  a  directory,  then  ask  a 
policeman.  Shepler's  a  busy  man.  You  tell  the 
clerk  or  whoever  holds  you  up  that  Mr.  Peter  Bines 
wants  an  appointment  with  Mr.  Shepler  as  soon  as 
he  can  make  it  —  Mr.  Peter  Bines,  of  Montana 
City.  Be  there  by  9.30  so's  to  get  him  soon  as  he 
comes.  He  knows  me ;  tell  him  I  want  to  see  him 
on  business  soon  as  possible,  and  find  out  when  he 
can  give  me  time.  And  don't  you  say  to  any  one 
else  that  I  ever  seen  him  or  sent  you  there.  Under 
stand  ?  Don't  ever  say  a  word  to  any  one.  Remem 
ber,  now.  be  there  at  9.30.  and  don't  let  any  clerk 
put  you  off,  and  ask  him  what  hour'll  be  convenient 
for  him.  Now  get  what  sleep's  comin'  to  you.  It's 
five  o'clock." 

At  noon  Billy  Brue  returned  to  the  hotel  to  find 
Uncle  Peter  finishing  a  hearty  breakfast. 

"  I  found  him  all  right.  Uncle  Peter.  The  look 
out  acted  suspicious,  but  I  saw  the  main  guy  himself 
come  out  of  a  door  —  like  I'd  seen  his  picture  in 
the  papers,  so  I  just  called  to  him,  and  said,  '  Mr. 


346  THE    SPENDERS 

Peter  Bines  wants  to  see  you,'  like  that.  He  took 
me  right  into  his  office,  and  I  told  him  what  you  said, 
and  he'll  be  ready  for  you  at  two  o'clock.  He  knows 
mines,  all  right,  out  our  way,  don't  he  ?  —  and  he 
crowded  a  handful  of  these  tin-foil  cigars  on  to  me, 
and  acted  real  sociable.  Told  me  to  drop  in  any 
time.  Say,  he'd  run  purty  high  in  the  yellow  stuff 
all  right." 

"  At  two  o'clock,  you  say?  " 

"  Yes." 

"And  what's  his  number?" 

"  Gee,  I  forgot ;  I  can  tell  you,  though.  You  go 
down  Broadway  to  that  old  church  —  say.  Uncle 
Peter,  there's  folks  in  that  buryin'-ground  been  dead 
over  two  hundred  years,  if  you  can  go  by  their  grave 
stones.  Gee!  I  didn't  s'pose  anybody' d  been  dead 
that  long  —  then  you  turn  down  the  gulch  right 
opposite,  until  you  come  to  the  Vandevere  Building, 
a  few  rods  down  on  the  left.  Shepler's  there.  Git 
into  the  bucket  and  go  up  to  the  second  level,  and 
you'll  find  him  in  the  left-hand  back  stope  —  his 
name's  on  the  door  in  gold  letters." 

"  All  right.  And  look  here.  Billy,  keep  your 
head  shut  about  all  I  said  last  night  about  anything. 
Don't  you  ever  let  on  to  a  soul  that  I  ain't  stuck  on 
this  place  and  its  people  —  no  matter  what  I  do." 

"Sure  not!  What  are  you  going  to  do.  Uncle 
Peter?" 

The  old  man's  jaws  were  set  for  some  seconds  in 
a  way  to  make  Billy  Brue  suspect  he  might  l>e  suf 
fering  from  cramp.  It  seemed,  however,  that  he 


THE    SPENDERS  347 

had  merely  been  thinking  intently.  Presently  he 
said : 

"  I'm  goin'  to  raise  hell,  Billy." 

"Sure!"  said  Mr.  Brue  —  approvingly  on  gen 
eral  principles.  "  Sure!  Why  not?  " 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

Uncle  Peter  Inspires  His  Grandson  to    Worthy 
Ambitions 

ON  three  successive  days  the  old  man  held 
lengthy  interviews  with  Shepler  in  the  latter's 
private  office.  At  the  close  of  the  third  day's 
interview,  Shepler  sent  for  Relpin,  of  the  brokerage 
firm  of  Relpin  and  Hendricks.  A  few  days  after 
this  Uncle  Peter  said  to  Percival  one  morning : 

"  I  want  to  have  a  talk  with  you,  son." 

"  All  right,  Uncle  Peter/'  was  the  cheerful  an 
swer.  He  suspected  the  old  man  might  at  last  be 
going  to  preach  a  bit,  since  for  a  week  past  he  had 
been  rather  less  expansive.  He  resolved  to  listen 
with  good  grace  to  any  homilies  that  might  issue. 
He  took  his  suspicion  to  be  confirmed  when  Uncle 
Peter  began: 

"  You  folks  been  cuttin'  a  pretty  wide  swath  here 
in  New  York." 

"  That's  so,  Uncle  Peter,  —  wider  than  we  could 
have  cut  in  Montana  City." 

"  Been  spendin'  money  purty  free  for  a  year." 

"Yes;  you  need  money  here." 

"  I  reckon  you  can't  say  about  how  much,  now?  " 
348 


THE    SPENDERS  349 

"  Oh,  I  shouldn't  wonder,"  Percival  answered, 
going  over  to  the  escritoire,  and  taking  out  some 
folded  sheets  and  several  check-books.  "Of  course,  I 
haven't  it  all  here,  but  I  have  the  bulk  of  it.  Let  me 
figure  a  little." 

He  began  to  work  with  a  pencil  on  a  sheet  of 
paper.  He  was  busy  almost  half  an  hour,  while 
Uncle  Peter  smoked  in  silence. 

"It  struck  me  the  other  night  we  might  have 
been  getting  a  little  near  to  the  limit,  so  I  figured 
a  bit  then,  too,  and  I  guess  this  will  give  you  some 
idea  of  it.  Of  course  this  isn't  all  mine;  it  includes 
ma's  and  Psyche's.  Sis  has  been  a  mark  for  every 
bridge-player  between  the  Battery  and  the  Bronx, 
and  the  way  ma  has  been  plunging-  on  her  indigent 
poor  is  a  caution,  —  she  certainly  does  hold  the 
large  golden  medal  for  amateur  cross-country 
philanthropy.  Now  here's  a  rough  expense  ac 
count  —  of  course  only  approximate,  except  some 
of  the  items  I  happened  to  have."  Uncle  Peter  took 
the  statement,  and  studied  it  carefully. 

Paid  Hightower  Hotel  .  .  $  42,983.75 
Keep  of  horses,  and  extra  horse  and 

carriage  hire  .....  5,628.50 
Chartering  steam-yacht  Viluca  three 

months      ......  24,000.00 

Expenses  running  yacht  .  .  46,850.28 

W.  U.  Telegraph  Company.  .  .  32.65 

Incidentals 882,763.90 

Total  $1,002,259.08 


350  THE    SPENDERS 

His  sharp  old  eyes  ran  up  and  down  the  column 
of  figures.  Something  among  the  items  seemed 
to  annoy  him. 

"  Looking  at  those  '  incidentals  '  ?  I  took  those 
from  the  check-books.  They  are  pretty  heavy." 

"It's  an  outrage!"  exclaimed  the  old  man,  in 
dignantly,  "  that  there  $32.50  to  the  telegraph  com 
pany.  How's  it  come  you  didn't  have  a  Western 
Union  frank  this  year?  1  s'posed  you  had  one. 
They  sent  me  mine." 

"  Oh,  well,  they  didn't  send  me  one,  and  I  didn't 
bother  to  ask  for  it,"  the  young  man  answered  in 
a  tone  of  relief.  "  Of  course  the  expenses  have  been 
pretty  heavy,  coming  here  strangers  as  we  did. 
Now,  another  year  — 

"  Oh,  that  ain't  anything.  Of  course  you  got  to 
spend  money.  I  see  one  of  them  high-toned  gents 
that  died  the  other  day  said  a  gentleman  couldn't 
possibly  get  along  on  less'n  two  thousand  dollars 
a  day  and  expenses.  I'm  glad  to  see  you  ain't  cut 
under  the  limit  none  —  you  got  right  into  his  class 
jest  like  you'd  always  lived  here,  didn't  you?  But, 
now,  I  been  kind  of  lookin'  over  the  ground  since 
I  come  here,  and  it's  struck  me  you  ain't  been  gettin' 
enough  for  your  money.  You've  spent  free,  but 
the  goods  ain't  been  delivered.  I'm  talkin'  about 
yourself.  Both  your  ma  and  Pishy  has  got  more 
out  of  it  than  you  have.  Why.  your  ma  gets  her 
name  in  the  papers  as  a  philanthropist  along  with 
that  —  how  do  the  papers  call  her?  —  'the  well- 
known  club  woman '  -  that  Mrs.  Helen  Wyot 


THE    SPENDERS  351 

Lamson  that  always  has  her  name  spelled  out  in 
full?  Your  ma  is  getting  public  recognition  fur 
her  money,  and  look  at  Pishy.  What's  she  gone 
and  done  while  you  been  laxin'  about?  Why,  she's 
got  engaged  to  a  lord,  or  just  as  good.  Look  at  the 
prospects  she's  got!  She'll  enter  the  aristocracy  of 
England  and  have  a  title.  But  look  at  you !  Really, 
son,  I'm  ashamed  of  you.  People  over  there'll  be 
sayin'  '  Lady  What's-her-name?  Oh,  yes!  She  has 
got  a  brother,  but  he  don't  amount  to  shucks  —  he 
ain't  much  more'n  a  three-spot.  He  can't  do  any 
thing  but  play  bank  and  drink  like  a  fish.  He's 
thro\ved  away  his  opportunities  '  -  that's  what 
them  dukes  and  counts  will  be  savin'  alxnit  you 
behind  your  back." 

"  I  understood  you  didn't  think  much  of  sis's 
choice." 

"  Well  of  course,  he  wouldn't  be  much  in  Mon 
tana  City,  but  he's  all  right  in  his  place,  and  he 
seems  to  be  healthy.  What  knocks  me  is  how  he 
ever  got  all  them  freckles.  He  never  come  by  'em 
honestly,  I  bet.  He  must  'a'  got  caught  in  an  explo 
sion  of  freckles  sometime.  But  that  ain't  neither 
here  nor  there.  He  has  the  goods  and  Pish'll  get 
'em  delivered.  She's  got  something  to  show  fur 
her  dust.  But  what  you  got  to  show?  Not  a 
blamed  thing  but  a  lot  of  stubs  in  a  check-book, 
and  a  little  fat.  Now  I  ain't  makin'  any  kick.  I 
got  no  right  to :  but  I  do  hate  to  see  you  leadin' 
this  life  of  idleness  and  dissipation  when  you  might 
be  makin'  something  of  yourself.  Your  pa  was 


352  THE    SPENDERS 

quite  a  man.  He  left  his  mark  out  there  in  that- 
Western  country.  Now  you're  here  settled  in  the 
East  among  big  people,  with  a  barrel  of  inunev 
and  tine  chances  to  do  something,  and  you're  jest 
layin'  down  on  the  family  name.  You  wouldn't 
think  near  so  much  of  your  pa  if  he'd  laid  down 
before  his  time ;  and  your  own  children  will  always 
have  to  say  '  Poor  pa  —  he  had  a  good  heart,  but 
he  never  could  amount  to  anything  more'n  a  three- 
spot;  he  didn't  have  any  stuff  in  him,'  they'll  be 
sayin'.  Now,  on  the  level,  you  don't  want  to  go 
through  life  bein'  just  known  as  a  good  thing  and 
easy  money,  do  you?" 

"  Why,  of  course  not,  Uncle  Peter;  only  1  had  to 
look  around  some  at  first,  —  for  a  year  or  so." 

"  Well,  if  you  need  to  look  any  more,  then  your 
eyes  ain't  right.  That's  my  say.  I  ain't  askin'  you 
to  go  West.  I  don't  expect  that!  " 

Percival  brightened. 

"  But  I  am  tryin'  to  nag  you  into  doin'  something 
here.  People  can  say  what  they  want  to  about 
you,"  he  continued,  stubbornly,  as  one  who  con 
fesses  the  most  arrant  bigotry,  "  but  I  know  you 
have  got  some  brains,  some  ability  —  I  really  be 
lieve  you  got  a  whole  lot  —  and  you  got  the  means 
to  take  your  place  right  at  the  top.  You  can  head 
'em  all  in  this  country  or  any  other.  Now  what 
you  ought  to  do,  you  ought  to  take  your  place  in 
the  world  of  finance  —  put  your  mind  on  it  night 
and  day  —  swing  out  —  get  action  —  and  set  the 
ball  to  rolling.  Your  pa  was  a  big  man  in  the  West, 


THE    SPENDERS  353 

and  there  ain't  any  reason  as  I  can  see  of  why  you 
can't  be  just  as  big  a  man  in  proportion  here.  Peo 
ple  can  talk  all  they  want  to  about  your  bein'  just 
a  dub  —  7  won't  believe  'em.  And  there's  London. 
You  ain't  been  ambitious  enough.  Get  a  down-hill 
pull  on  New  York,  and  then  branch  out.  Be  a 
man  of  affairs  like  your  pa,  and  like  that  fellow 
Shepler.  Let's  be  somebody.  If  Montana  City  was 
too  small  fur  us,  that's  no  reason  why  New  York 
should  be  too  big." 

Percival  had  walked  the  floor  in  deep  attention 
to  the  old  man's  words. 

"  You've  got  me  right,  Uncle  Peter,"  he  said  at 
last.  "  And  you're  right  about  what  I  ought  to 
do.  I've  often  thought  I'd  go  into  some  of  these 
big  operations  here.  But  for  one  thing  I  wTas  afraid 
of  what  you'd  say.  And  then,  I  didn't  know  the 
game  very  well.  But  I  see  I  ought  to  do  something. 
You're  dead  right." 

"  And  we  need  more  money,  too,"  urged  the  old 
man.  "  I  was  reading  a  piece  the  other  day  about 
the  big  fortunes  in  New  York.  Why,  we  ain't  one, 
two.  three,  with  the  dinky  little  twelve  or  thirteen 
millions  we  could  swing.  You  don't  want  to  be  a 
piker,  do  you?  If  you  go  in  the  game  at  all,  play 
her  open  and  high.  Make  'em  take  the  ceiling  off. 
You  can  just  as  well  get  into  the  hundred  million 
class  as  not,  and  I  know  it.  They  needn't  talk  to 
me  —  I  know  you  have  got  some  brains.  If  you 
was  to  go  in  now  it  would  keep  you  straight  and 
busy,  and  take  you  out  of  this  pin-head  class  that 
only  spends  their  pa's  money." 


354  THE    SPENDERS 

"You're  all  right,  Uncle  Peter!  J  certainly  did 
need  3-011  to  come  along  right  now  and  set  me 
straight.  You  founded  the  fortune,  pa  trebled  it, 
and  now  I'll  get  to  work  and  roll  it  up  like  a  big 
snowball." 

"  That's  the  talk.  Get  into  the  hundred  million 
class,  and  show  these  wise  folks  you  got  something 
in  you  besides  hot  air,  like  the  sayin'  is.  Then  they 
won't  always  be  askin'  who  your  pa  was  —  they'll 
be  wantin'  to  know  who  yon  are,  by  Gripes !  Then 
you  can  have  the  biggest  steam  yacht  afloat,  two 
or  three  of  'em,  and  the  best  house  in  New  York, 
and  palaces  over  in  England;  and  Pish'll  be  able 
to  hold  up  her  head  in  company  over  there.  You 
can  finance  that  proposition  right  up  to  the  nines." 

"By  Jove!  but  you're  right.  You're  a  wonder. 
Uncle  Peter.  And  that  reminds  me  —  " 

He  stopped  in  his  walk. 

"  I  gave  it  hardly  any  thought  at  the  time,  but 
now  it  looks  bigger  than  a  mountain.  I  know  just 
the  things  to  start  in  on  systematically.  Now  don't 
breathe  a  word  of  this,  but  there's  a  big  deal  on  in 
Consolidated  Copper.  I  happened  on  to  the  fact  in 
a  queer  way  the  other  night.  There's  a  broker  I've 
known  down-town  —  fellow  by  the  name  of  Relpin. 
Met  him  last  summer.  He  does  most  of  Shepler's 
business ;  he's  supposed  to  be  closer  to  Shepler  and 
know  more  about  the  inside  of  his  deals  than  any 
man  in  the  Street.  Well.  I  ran  across  Relpin  down 
in  the  cafe  the  other  night  and  he  was  wearing  one 
of  those  gents'  nobby  three-button  souses.  Nothing 


THE    SPENDERS  355 

would  do  but  I  should  dine  with  him,  so  I  did.  It 
was  the  night  you  and  the  folks  went  to  the  opera 
with  the  Oldakers.  Relpin  was  full  of  lovely  talk 
and  dark  hints  about  a  rise  in  copper  stock,  and 
another  rise  in  Western  Trolley,  and  a  bigger  rise 
than  either  of  them  in  Union  Cordage.  How  that 
fellow  can  do  Shepler's  business  and  drink  the  stuff 
that  makes  you  talk  I  don't  see.  Anyway  he  said  — 
and  you  can  bet  what  he  says  goes  —  that  the  Con 
solidated  is  going  to  control  the  world's  supply  of 
copper  inside  of  three  months,  and  the  stock  is 
bound  to  kite,  and  so  are  these  other  two  stocks; 
Shepler's  back  of  all  three.  The  insiders  are 
buying  up  now,  slowly  and  cautiously,  so  as  not  to 
start  any  boom  prematurely.  Consolidated  is  no 
now,  and  it'll  be  up  to  150  by  April  at  the  latest. 
The  others  may  go  beyond  that.  I  wasn't  looking 
for  the  game  at  the  time,  so  I  didn't  give  it  any 
thought,  but  now,  you  see,  there's  our  chance. 
We'll  plunge  in  those  three  lines  before  they  start 
to  rise,  and  be  in  on  the  ground  floor." 

"  Now  don't  you  be  rash !  That  Shepler's  old 
enough  to  suck  eggs  and  hide  the  shells.  I  heard  a 
man  say  the  other  day  copper  was  none  too  good 
at  no." 

"  Exactly.  You  can  hear  anything  you're  look 
ing  to  hear,  down  there.  But  I  tell  you  this  was 
straight.  Don't  you  suppose  Shepler  knows  what 
he's  about  ?  —  there's  a  boy  that  won't  be  peddling 
shoe-laces  and  gum-drops  off  one  of  these  neat  little 
bosom-trays  —  not  for  eighty-five  or  ninety  thou- 


356  THE    SPENDERS 

sand  years  yet  —  and  Relpin,  even  if  he  was  drunk, 
knows  Shepler's  deals  like  you  know  Skiplap. 
They'll  bear  the  stocks  all  they  can  while  they're 
buying  up.  I  wouldn't  be  surprised  if  the  next 
Consolidated  dividend  was  reduced.  That  would 
send  her  down  a  few  points,  and  throw  more  stock 
on  the  market.  Meantime,  they're  quietly  workin' 
to  get  control  of  the  European  mines  —  and  as  to 
Western  Trolley  and  Union  Cordage  —  say,  Rel 
pin  actually  got  to  crying  —  they're  so  good  —  he 
had  one  of  those  loving  ones,  the  kind  where  you 
want  to  be  good  to  every  one  in  the  world.  I'm  sur 
prised  he  didn't  get  into  a  sandwich  sign  and  patrol 
Broadway,  giving  those  tips  to  everybody." 

"  Course,  we're  on  a  proposition  now  that  you 
know  more  about  it  than  I  do;  you  certainly  do 
take  right  hold  at  once  —  that  was  your  pa's  way, 
too.  Daniel  J.  could  look  farther  ahead  in  a  minute 
than  most  men  could  in  a  year.  I  got  to  trust  you 
wholly  in  these  matters,  and  I  know  I  can  do  it.  too. 
I  got  confidence  in  you,  no  matter  what  other  peo 
ple  say.  They  don't  know  you  like  I  do.  And  if 
there's  any  other  things  you  know  about  fur 
sure  — 

"  Well,  there's  Burman.  He's  plunging  in  corn 
now.  His  father  has  staked  him,  and  he  swears  he 
can't  lose.  He  was  after  me  to  put  aside  a  million. 
Of  course  if  he  does  win  out  it  would  be  big  money." 

"  Well,  son,  I  can't  advise  you  none  —  except  I 
know  you  have  got  a  head  on  you,  no  matter  how 
people  talk.  You  know  about  this  end  of  the  game, 


THE    SPENDERS  357 

and  I'll  have  to  be  led  entirely  by  you.  If  you  think 
Burman's  got  a  good  proposition,  why,  there  ain't 
anything  like  gettin'  action  all  along  the  layout, 
from  ace  down  to  seven-spot  and  back  to  the  king 
card." 

"  That's  the  talk.  I'll  see  Relpin  to-day  or  to 
morrow.  I'll  bet  he  tries  to  hedge  on  what  he  said. 
But  I  got  him  too  straight  —  let  a  drunken  man 
alone  for  telling  the  truth  when  he's  got  it  in  him. 
We'll  start  in  buying  at  once." 

"  It  does  sound  good.  I  must  say  you  take  hold 
of  it  considerable  like  Dan'l  J.  would  'a'  done  —  and 
use  my  money  jest  like  your  own.  I  do  want  to 
see  you  takin'  your  place  where  you  belong.  This 
life  of  idleness  you  been  leadin' -—  one  continual 
potlatch  the  whole  time  —  it  wa'n't  doin'  you  a 
bit  of  good." 

"  We'll  get  action,  don't  you  worry.  Now  let's 
have  lunch  down-stairs,  and  then  go  for  a  drive. 
It's  too  fine  a  day  to  stay  in.  I'll  order  the  cart 
around  and  show  you  that  blue-ribbon  cob  I  bought 
at  the  horse  show.  I  just  want  you  to  see  his  action. 
He's  a  beaut,  all  right.  He's  been  worked  a  half  in 
1.17,  and  he  can  go  to  his  speed  in  ten  lengths,  any 
time." 

In  the  afternoon  they  fell  into  the  procession  of 
carriages  streaming  toward  the  park.  The  day  was 
pleasantly  sharp,  the  clear  sunshine  enlivening,  and 
the  cob  was  one  with  the  spirit  of  the  occasion, 
alertly  active,  from  his  rubber-shod,  varnished  hoofs 
to  the  tips  of  his  sensitive  ears. 


358  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Central  Park,"  said  Uncle  Peter,  "  always 
seems  to  me  just  like  a  tidy  little  parlour,  livin' 
around  in  them  hills  the  way  I  have." 

He  watched  the  glinting  of  varnished  spokes,  and 
listened  absently  to  the  rhythmic  "  click-clump  " 
of  trotting  horses,  with  its  accompanying  jingle  of 
silver  harness  trappings. 

"  These  people  must  have  lots  of  money,"  he 
observed.  "  But  you'll  go  in  and  outdo  'em  all." 

"That's  what!   Uncle  Peter." 

Toward  the  upper  end  of  the  East  Drive  they 
passed  a  victoria  in  which  were  Miss  Milbrey  and 
her  mother  writh  Rulon  Shepler.  The  men  raised 
their  hats.  Miss  Milbrey  flashed  the  blue  of  her 
eyes  to  them  and  pointed  down  her  chin  in  the  least 
bit  of  a  bow.  Mrs.  Milbrey  stared. 

"Wa'n't  that  Shepler?" 

"  Yes,  Shepler  and  the  Milbreys.  That  woman 
certainly  has  the  haughtiest  lorgnon  ever  built." 

"She  didn't  speak  to  us.     Is  her  eyes  bad?" 

"  Yes,  ever  since  that  time  at  Newport.  None 
of  them  has  spoken  to  me  but  the  girl  —  she's  en 
gaged  to  Shepler." 

"  She's  a  right  nice  lookin'  little  lady.  I  thought 
you  was  kind  of  taken  there." 

"  She  w^ould  have  married  me  for  my  roll.  I 
got  far  enough  along  to  tell  that.  But  that  was 
before  Shepler  proposed.  I'd  give  long  odds  she 
wouldn't  consider  me  now.  I  haven't  enough  for 
her  with  him  in  the  game." 

"  Well,  you  go  in  and  make  her  wish  she'd 
waited  for  you." 


THE    SPENDERS  359 

"  I'll  do  that;  I'll  make  Shepler  look  like  a  well- 
to-do  business  man  from  Pontiac,  Michigan." 

"'  Is  that  brother  of  hers  you  told  me  about  still 
makin'  up  to  that  party?" 

"  Can't  say.  I  suppose  he'll  be  a  little  more 
fastidious,  as  the  brother-in-law  of  Shepler.  In 
fact  I  heard  that  the  family  had  shut  down  on 
any  talk  of  his  marrying  her." 

u  Still,  she  ought  to  be  able  to  do  well  here. 
Any  man  that  would  marry  a  woman  fur  money 
wouldn't  object  to  her.  One  of  these  fortune-hunt 
ing  Englishmen,  now,  would  snap  her  up." 

"  She  hasn't  quite  enough  for  that.  Two  mil 
lions  isn't  so  much  here,  you  know,  and  she  must 
have  spent  a  lot  of  hers.  I  hear  she  has  a  very 
expensive  suite  back  there  at  the  Arlingham,  and 
lives  high.  I  did  hear,  too,  that  she  takes  a  flyer 
in  the  Street  now  and  then.  She'll  be  broke  soon 
if  she  keeps  that  up." 

"  Too  bad  she  ain't  got  a  few  more  millions," 
said  Uncle  Peter,  ruminantly.  '  Take  one  of  these 
titled  Englishmen  looking  for  an  heiress  to  keep 
'em  —  she'd  make  just  the  kind  of  a  wife  he'd 
ought  to  get.  She  certainly  ought  to  have  a  few 
more  millions.  If  she  had,  now,  she  might  cure 
some  decent  girl  of  her  infatuation.  Where'd  you 
say  she  was  stoppin'  ?  " 

"  Arlingham  —  that  big  private  hotel  I  showed 
you  back  there." 

Percival  confessed  to  his  mother  that  night  that 
h€  had  wronged  Uncle  Peter. 


360  THE    SPENDERS 

"  That  old  boy  is  all  right  yet,"  he  said,  with 
deep  conviction.  "  Don't  make  any  mistake  there. 
He  has  bigger  ideas  than  I  gave  him  credit  for. 
I  suggested  branching  out  here  in  a  business  way, 
to-day,  and  the  old  fellow  got  right  in  line.  If 
anybody  tells  you  that  old  Petie  Bines  hasn't  got 
the  leaves  of  his  little  calendar  torn  off  right  up 
to  date  you  just  feel  wise  inside,  and  see  what 
odds  are  posted  on  it !  " 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Concerning  Consolidated  Copper  and  Peter  Bines  as 
Matchmakers 

CONSOLIDATED  copper  at  no.  The  day 
after  his  talk  with  Uncle  Peter,  Percival 
through  three  different  brokers  gave  orders  to 
buy  ten  thousand  shares. 

"  I  tried  to  give  Relpin  an  order  for  five  thou 
sand  shares  over  the  telephone,"  he  said  to  Uncle 
Peter;  "but  they're  used  to  those  fifty  and  a 
hundred  thousand  dollar  pikers  down  in  that  neigh 
bourhood.  He  seemed  to  think  I  was  joshing  him. 
When  I  told  him  I  meant  it  and  was  ready  to  take 
practically  all  he  could  buy  for  the  next  few  weeks 
or  so,  I  think  he  fell  over  in  the  booth  and  had 
to  be  helped  out." 

Orders  for  twenty  thousand  more  shares  in  thou 
sand  share  lots  during  the  next  three  weeks  sent 
the  stock  to  115.  Yet  wise  men  in  the  Street 
seemed  to  fear  the  stock.  They  were  waiting 
cautiously  for  more  definite  leadings.  The  plung 
ing  of  Bines  made  rather  a  sensation,  and  when 
it  became  known  that  his  holdings  were  large  and 
growing  almost  daily  larger,  the  waning  confidence 
of  a  speculator  here  and  there  would  be  revived. 


362  THE    SPENDERS 

At  115  the  stock  rested  again,  with  few  sales 
recorded.  A  certain  few  of  the  elect  regarded  this 
calm  as  ominous.  It  was  half  believed  by  others 
that  the  manipulations  of  the  inner  ring  would 
presently  advance  the  stock  to  a  sensational  figure, 
and  that  the  reckless  young  man  from  Montana 
might  be  acting  upon  information  of  a  definite 
character.  But  among  the  veteran  speculators  the 
feeling  was  conservative.  Before  buying  they  pre 
ferred  to  await  some  sign  that  the  advance  had 
actually  begun.  The  conservatives  were  mostly  the 
bald  old  fellows.  Among  the  illusions  that  rarely 
survive  a  man's  hair  in  Wall  Street  is  the  one  that 
"  sure  things  "  are  necessarily  sure. 

Percival  watched  Consolidated  Copper  go  back 
to  no,  and  bought  again  —  ten  thousand  shares. 
The  price  went  up  two  points  the  day  after  his 
orders  were  placed,  and  two  days  later  dropped 
back  to  no.  The  conservatives  began  to  agree 
with  the  younger  set  of  speculators,  in  so  far  as 
both  now  believed  that  the  stock  was  behaving  in 
an  unnatural  manner,  indicating  that  "  something 
was  doing  "  -  that  manipulation  behind  the  scenes 
was  under  way  to  a  definite  end.  The  conserva 
tives  and  the  radicals  differed  as  to  what  this  end 
was.  But  then,  Wall  Street  is  nourished  almost 
exclusively  upon  differences  of  opinion. 

Percival  now  had  accounts  with  five  firms  of 
brokers. 

"  Relpin,"  he  explained  to  Uncle  Peter,  "  is  a 
foxy  boy.  He's  foxier  than  a  fox.  He  not  only 


THE    SPENDERS  363 

tried  to  hedge  on  what  he  told  me,  —  said  he'd 
been  drinking  absinthe  frappe  that  day,  and  it  al 
ways  gets  him  dreamy,  —  but  he  actually  had  the 
nerve  to  give  me  the  opposite  steer.  Of  course  he 
knows  the  deal  clear  to  the  centre,  and  Shepler 
knows  that  he  knows,  and  he  must  have  been  afraid 
Shepler  would  suspect  he'd  been  talking.  So  I 
only  traded  a  few  thousand  shares  with  him.  I 
didn't  want  to  embarrass  him.  Funny  about  him, 
too.  1  never  heard  before  of  his  drinking  any 
thing  to  speak  of.  And  there  isn't  a  man  in  the 
Street  comes  so  near  to  knowing  what  the  big 
boys  are  up  to.  But  we're  on  the  winning  cards 
all  right.  I  get  exactly  the  same  information  from 
a  dozen  confidential  sources;  some  of  it  I  can  trace 
to  Relpin,  and  some  of  it  right  to  Shepler  himself." 
"  Course  I'm  leavin'  it  all  to  you,"  answered 
Uncle  Peter;  "and  I  must  say  I  do  admire  the 
way  you  take  hold  and  get  things  on  the  move. 
You  don't  let  any  grass  grow  under  your  heels. 
You  got  a  good  head  fur  them  things.  I  can  tell 
by  the  way  you  start  out  —  just  like  your  pa  fur 
all  the  world.  I'll  feel  safe  enough  about  my  money 
as  long  as  you  keep  your  health.  If  only  you  got 
the  nerve.  I've  known  men  would  play  a  big  propo 
sition  half-through  and  then  get  scared  and  pull 
out.  Your  pa  \va'n't  that  way.  He  could  get  a 
proposition  right  by  its  handle  every  time,  and  they 
never  come  any  too  big  fur  him;  the  bigger  they 
was,  better  he  liked  'em.  That's  the  kind  of  genius 
I  think  you  got.  You  ain't  afraid  to  take  a  chance." 


364  THE    SPENDERS 

Percival  beamed  modestly  under  praise  of  this* 
sort  which  now  came  to  him  daily. 

"  It's  good  discipline  for  me,  too,  Uncle  Peter. 
It's  what  I  needed,  something  to  put  my  mind  on. 
I  needed  a  new  interest  in  life.  You  had  me  down 
right.  I  wasn't  doing  myself  a  bit  of  good  with 
nothing  to  occupy  my  mind." 

"  Well,  I'm  mighty  glad  you  thought  up  this 
stock  deal.  It'll  give  you  good  business  habits  and 
experience,  say  nothing  of  doubling  your  capital." 

"  And  I've  gone  in  with  Burman  on  his  corn  deal. 
He's  begun  to  buy,  and  he  has  it  cinched  this  time. 
He'll  be  the  corn  king  all  right  by  June  ist;  don't 
make  any  mistake  on  that.  I  thought  as  long  as  we 
were  plunging  so  heavy  in  Western  Trolley  and 
Union  Cordage,  along  with  the  copper,  we  might 
as  well  take  the  side  line  of  corn.  Then  we  won't 
have  our  eggs  all  in  one  basket." 

"  All  right,  son,  all  right !  I'm  trustin'  you.  A 
corner  in  corn  is  better'n  a  corner  in  wild-oats  any 
day ;  anything  to  keep  you  straight,  and  doin'  some 
thing.  I  don't  care  how  many  millions  you  pile  up ! 
I  hear  the  Federal  Oil  people's  back  of  the  copper 
deal." 

"  That's  right ;  the  oil  crowd  and  Shepler.  I  had 
it  straight  from  Relpin  that  night.  They're  nego 
tiating  now  with  the  Rothschilds  to  limit  the  output 
of  the  Rio  Tinto  mines.  They'll  end  by  controlling 
them,  and  then  —  well,  we'll  have  a  roll  of  the 
yellow  boys  —  say,  we'll  have  to  lay  quiet  for  a 
year  just  to  count  it." 


THE    SPENDERS  365 

"  Do  it  good  while  you're  doin'  it,"  urged  Uncle 
Peter,  cheerfully.  "  I  rely  so  much  on  your  judg 
ment,  I  want  you  to  get  action  on  my  stuff,  too.  I 
got  a  couple  millions  that  ought  to  be  workin' 
harder  than  they  are." 

"  Good;  I  didn't  think  you  had  so  much  gambler 
in  you." 

"  It's  fur  a  worthy  purpose,  son.  And  it  seems 
too  bad  that  Pishy  can't  pull  out  something  with 
her  bit,  when  it's  to  be  had  so  easy.  From  what 
that  spangle-faced  beau  of  hers  tells  me  there's  got 
to  be  some  expensive  plumbing  done  in  that  castle 
he  gets  sawed  off  on  to  him." 

"  We'll  let  sis  in,  too,"  exclaimed  her  brother, 
generously,  "  and  ma  could  use  a  little  more  in  her 
business.  She's  sitting  up  nights  to  corner  all  the 
Amalgamated  Hard-luck  on  the  island.  We'll  pool 
issue,  and  say,  we'll  make  those  Federal  Oil  pikers 
think  we've  gnawed  a  corner  off  the  subtreasury. 
I'll  put  an  order  in  for  twenty  thousand  more  shares 
to-morrow  —  among  the  three  stocks.  And  then 
we'll  have  to  see  about  getting  all  our  capital  here. 
We'll  need  every  cent  of  it  that's  loose ;  and  maybe 
we  better  sell  off  some  of  those  dead-wood  stocks." 

The  twenty  thousand  shares  were  bought  by  the 
following  week,  five  thousand  of  them  being  Con 
solidated  Copper,  ten  thousand  Western  Trolley, 
and  five  thousand  Union  Cordage.  Consolidated 
Copper  fell  off  two  points,  upon  rumours,  traceable 
to  no  source,  that  the  company  had  on  hand  a  large 
secret  supply  of  copper,  and  was  producing  largely 
in  excess  of  the  demand  every  month. 


366  THE    SPENDERS 

Percival  told  Uncle  Peter  of  these  rumours,  and 
chuckled  with  the  easy  confidence  of  a  man  who 
knows  secrets. 

"  You  see,  it's  coming  the  way  Relpin  said.  The 
insiders  are  hammering  down  the  stock  with  those 
reports,  hammering  with  one  hand,  and  buying  up 
small  lots  quietly  with  the  other.  But  you'll  notice 
the  price  of  copper  doesn't  go  down  any.  They 
keep  it  at  seventeen  cents  all  right.  Now,  the  mo 
ment  they  get  control  of  the  European  supply  they'll 
hold  the  stuff,  force  up  the  selling  price  to  awful 
figures,  and  squeeze  out  dividends  that  will  make 
you  wear  blue  glasses  to  look  at  them." 

"  You  certainly  do  know  your  business,  son," 
said  Uncle  Peter,  fervently.  "  You  certainly  got 
your  pa's  head  on  you.  You  remind  me  more  and 
more  of  Dan'l  J.  Bines  every  day.  I'd  rather  trust 
your  judgment  now  than  lots  of  older  men  down 
there.  You  know  their  tricks  all  right.  Get  in 
good  and  hard  so  long  as  you  got  a  sure  thing.  I'd 
hate  to  have  you  come  meachin'  around  after  that 
stock  has  kited,  and  be  kickin'  because  you  hadn't 
bet  what  your  hand  was  worth." 

"  Trust  me  for  that.  Uncle  Peter.  Garmer  tried  to 
steer  me  off  this  line  of  stocks  the  other  night.  He'd 
heard  these  rumours  about  a  slump,  and  he's  fifty 
years  old  at  that.  I  thanked  him  for  his  tip  and 
coppered  it  with  another  thousand  shares  all  around 
next  day.  The  way  Garmer  can  tell  when  you're 
playing  a  busted  flush  makes  you  nervous,  but  I 
haven't  looked  over  his  license  to  know  everything 
down  in  the  Street  yet." 


THE    SPENDERS  367 

The  moral  gain  to  Percival  from  his  new  devo 
tion  to  the  stock  market  was  commented  upon 
approvingly  both  by  Uncle  Peter  and  by  his  mother, 
it  was  quite  as  tangible  as  his  money  profits  prom 
ised  to  be.  He  ceased  to  frequent  the  temple  of 
chance  in  Forty-fourth  Street,  to  the  proprietor's 
genuine  regret.  The  poker-games  at  the  hotel  he 
abandoned  as  being  trivial.  And  the  cabmen  along 
upper  Broadway  had  seldom  now  the  opportunity 
to  compete  for  his  early  morning  patronage.  He 
began  to  keep  early  hours  and  to  do  less  casual 
drinking  during  the  day.  After  three  weeks  of 
this  comparatively  regular  living  his  mother  re 
joiced  to  note  signs  that  his  breakfast-appetite  was 
returning. 

"  You  see,"  he  explained  earnestly  to  Uncle 
Peter,  "  a  man  to  make  anything  at  this  game  must 
keep  his  head  clear,  and  he  must  have  good  health 
to  do  that.  I  meet  a  lot  of  those  fellows  down  there 
that  queer  themselves  by  drink.  It  doesn't  do  so 
much  hurt  when  a  man  isn't  needing  his  brains,  — 
but  no  more  of  it  for  me  just  now !  " 

"  That's  right,  son.  I  knew  I  could  make  some 
thing  more  than  a  polite  sosh  out  of  you.  I  knew 
you'd  pull  up  if  you  got  into  business  like  you  been 
doin'." 

"  Come  down-town  with  me  this  afternoon,  and 
see  me  make  a  play,  Uncle  Peter.  I  think  I'll  begin 
now  to  buy  on  a  margin.  The  rise  can't  hold  off 
much  longer." 

"  I'd   like  to,   son,   but   I'd   laid   out   to   take  a 


368  THE    SPENDERS 

walk  up  to  the  park  this  afternoon,  and  look  in 
at  the  monkeys  awhile.  I  need  the  out-doors,  and 
anyway  you  don't  need  me  down  there.  You  know 
your  part  all  right.  My!  but  I'd  begin  to  feel 
nervous  with  all  that  money  up,  if  it  was  anybody 
but  you,  now." 

In  pursuance  of  his  pronounced  plan,  Uncle  Peter 
walked  up  Fifth  Avenue  that  afternoon.  But  he 
stopped  short  of  the  park.  At  the  imposing  en 
trance  of  the  Arlingham  he  turned  in.  At  the  desk 
he  asked  for  Mrs.  Wybert. 

"  I'll  see  if  Mrs.  Wybert  is  in,"  said  the  clerk, 
handing  him  a  blank  card;  "your  name,  please!" 

The  old  man  wrote,  "  Mr.  Peter  Bines  of  Mon 
tana  City  would  like  a  few  minutes'  talk  with  Mrs. 
Wybert." 

The  boy  was  gone  so  long  that  Uncle  Peter,  wait 
ing,  began  to  suspect  he  would  not  be  received. 
He  returned  at  length  with  the  message,  "  The  lady 
says  will  you  please  step  up-stairs." 

Going  up  in  the  elevator,  the  old  man  was  ushered 
by  a  maid  into  a  violet-scented  little  nest  whose  pale 
green  walls  were  touched  discreetly  with  hangings 
of  heliotrope.  An  artist,  in  Uncle  Peter's  place, 
might  have  fancied  that  the  colour  scheme  of  the 
apartment  cried  out  for  a  bit  of  warmth.  A  glow 
ing,  warm-haired  woman  was  needed  to  set  the 
walls  afire;  and  the  need  was  met  when  Mrs. 
Wybert  entered. 

She  wore  a  long  coat  of  seal  trimmed  with  chin 
chilla,  and  had  been,  apparently,  about  to  go  out. 


THE    SPENDERS  369 

Uncle  Peter  rose  and  bowed.  Mrs.  Wybert  nodded 
rather  uncertainly. 

"You  wished  to  see  me,  Mr.  Bines?" 

"  I  did  want  to  have  a  little  talk  with  you,  Mrs. 
Wybert,  but  you're  goin'  out,  and  I  won't  keep  you. 
I  know  how  pressed  you  New  York  society  ladies 
are  with  your  engagements." 

Mrs.  Wybert  had  seemed  to  be  puzzled.  She  was 
still  puzzled  but  unmistakably  pleased.  The  old 
man  was  looking  at  her  with  frank  and  friendly 
apology  for  his  intrusion.  Plainly  she  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  him.  She  became  gracious. 

"  It  was  only  a  little  shopping  tour,  Mr.  Bines, 
that  and  a  call  at  the  hospital,  where  they  have  one 
of  my  maids  who  slipped  on  the  avenue  yesterday 
and  fractured  one  of  her  —  er  —  limbs.  Do  sit 
down." 

Mrs.  Wybert  said  "  limb  "  for  leg  with  the  rather 
conscious  air  of  escaping  from  an  awkward  situa 
tion  only  by  the  subtlest  finesse. 

She  seated  herself  before  a  green  and  heliotrope 
background  that  instantly  took  warmth  from  her 
colour.  Uncle  Peter  still  hesitated. 

'  You  see,  I  wanted  kind  of  a  long  chat  with  you, 
Mrs.  Wybert  —  a  friendly  chat  if  you  didn't  mind, 
and  I'd  feel  a  mite  nervous  if  you're  bundled  up  that 
way." 

"  I  shall  be  delighted,  Mr.  Bines,  to  have  a  long, 
friendly  chat.  I'll  send  my  cloak  back,  and  you 
take  your  own  time.  There  now,  do  be  right  com 
fortable!" 


370  THE    SPENDERS 

The  old  man  settled  himself  and  bestowed  upon 
his  hostess  a  long  look  of  approval. 

"  The  reports  never  done  you  justice,  Mrs.  Wy- 
bert,  and  they  was  very  glowin'  reports,  too." 

"  You're  very  kind,  Mr.  Bines,  awfully  good  of 
you!  " 

"  I'm  goin'  to  be  more,  Mrs.  Wybert.  I'm  goin' 
to  be  a  little  bit  confidential  —  right  out  in  the 
straight  open  with  you." 

"  1  am  sure  of  that." 

"  And  if  you  want  to,  you  can  be  the  same  with 
me.  I  ain't  ever  held  anything  against  you,  and 
maybe  now  I  can  do  you  a  favour." 

"  It's  right  good  of  you  to  say  so." 

"  Now,  look  here,  ma'am,  lets  you  and  me  get 
right  down  to  cases  about  this  society  game  here 
in  New  York." 

Mrs.  Wybert  laughed  charmingly  and  relaxed  in 
manner. 

"  I'm  with  you,  Mr.  Bines.  What  about  it, 
now?  " 

"  Now  don't  get  suspicious,  and  tell  me  to  mind 
my  own  business  when  I  ask  you  questions." 

"I  couldn't  be  suspicious  of  you  —  really  I  fee! 
as  if  I'd  have  to  tell  you  everything  you  asked  me, 
some  way." 

"  Well,  there's  been  some  talk  of  your  marrying 
that  young  Milbrey.  Now  tell  me  the  inside  of  it." 

She  looked  at  the  old  man  closely.  Her  intuition 
confirmed  his  own  protestations  of  friendliness. 

"  I   don't  mind  telling  you  in   strict  confidence. 


THE    SPENDERS  371 

there  was  talk  of  marriage,  and  his  people,  all  but 
the  sister,  encouraged  it.  Then  after  she  was  en 
gaged  to  Shepler  they  talked  him  out  of  it.  Now 
that's  the  whole  God's  truth,  if  it  does  you  any 
good." 

"  If  you  had  married  him  you'd  'a'  had  a  position, 
like  they  say  here,  right  away." 

"Oh,  dear,  yes!  awfully  swagger  people  —  dead 
swell,  every  one  of  them.  There's  no  doubt  about 
that." 

"  Exactly ;  and  there  ain't  really  any  reason  why 
you  can't  be  somebody  here." 

"  Well,  between  you  and  I,  Mr.  Bines,  I  can  play 
the  part  as  well  as  a  whole  lot  of  these  women  here. 
I  don't  want  to  talk,  of  course,  but  —  well !  " 

"  Exactly,  you  can  give  half  of  'em  cards  and 
spades  and  both  casinos,  Mrs.  Wybert." 

"  And  I'll  do  it  yet.  I'm  not  through  by  any 
means.  They're  not  the  only  perfectly  elegant 
people  in  this  town !  " 

"  Of  course  you'll  do  it,  and  you  could  do  it 
better  if  you  had  three  or  four  times  the  stake  you 
got." 

"  Dollars  are  worth  more  apiece  in  New  York 
than  any  town  I've  ever  been  in." 

"  Mrs.  Wybert,  I  can  put  you  right  square  into 
a  good  thing,  and  I'm  going  to  do  it.  Heard 
anything  about  Consolidated  Copper?" 

"  I've  heard  something  big  was  doing  in  it;  but 
nobody  seems  to  know  for  certain.  My  broker  is 
afraid  of  it." 


372  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Very  well.  Now  you  do  as  I  tell  you,  and  you 
can  clean  up  a  big  lot  inside  of  the  next  two  months. 
If  you  do  as  I  tell  you,  mind,  no  matter  what  you 
hear,  and  if  you  don't  talk." 

Mrs.  Wybert  meditated. 

"  Mr.  Bines,  I'm  —  it's  natural  that  I'm  a  little 
uneasy.  Why  should  you  want  to  see  me  do  well, 
after  our  little  affair?  Now,  out  with  it!  What 
are  you  trying  to  do  with  me  ?  What  do  you  expect 
me  to  do  for  you  ?  Get  down  to  cases  yourself,  Mr. 
Bines!" 

"  I  will,  ma'am,  in  a  few  words.  My  grand 
daughter,  you  may  have  heard,  is  engaged  to  an 
Englishman.  He's  next  thing  to  broke,  but  he's  got 
a  title  coming.  Naturally  he's  looking  fur  money. 
Naturally  he  don't  care  fur  the  girl.  But  I'm 
afraid  she's  infatuated  with  him.  Now  then,  if  he 
had  a  chance  at  some  one  with  more  money  than 
she's  got,  why,  naturally  he'd  jump  at  it." 

"  Aren't  you  a  little  bit  wild?  " 

"  Not  a  little  bit.  He  saw  you  at  Newport  last 
summer,  and  he's  seen  you  here.  He  was  tearing 
the  adjectives  up  telling  me  about  you  the  other 
night,  not  knowing,  you  understand,  that  I'd  ever 
heard  tell  of  you  before.  You  could  marry  him  in 
a  jiffy  if  you  follow  my  directions." 

"  But  your  granddaughter  has  a  fortune." 

"  You'll  have  as  much  if  you  play  this  the  way 
I  tell  you.  And  —  you  never  can  tell  in  these  times 
-  she  might  lose  a  good  bit  of  hers." 

"  It's  very  peculiar,  Mr.  Bines  —  your  proposi 
tion." 


:"   JjfHY,    YOU'D   BE  LADY   CASSELTHORPE,    WITH  DUKES 
AND  COUNTS  TAKIN'  OFF  THEIR  CROWNS  TO  YOU.1" 


THE    SPENDERS  373 

"  Look  at  what  a  brilliant  match  it  would  be  fur 
you.  Why,  you'd  be  Lady  Casselthorpe,  with  dukes 
and  counts  takin'  off  their  crowns  to  you.  And  that 
other  one  —  that  Milbrey  —  from  all  I  hear  he's 
lighter'n  cork  —  cut  his  galluses  and  he'd  float  right 
up  into  the  sky.  He  ain't  got  anything  but  his 
good  family  and  a  thirst." 

"  I  see.  This  Mauburn  isn't  good  enough  for 
your  family,  but  you  reckon  he's  good  enough  for 
me?  Is  that  it,  now?  " 

"  Come,  Mrs.  Wybert,  let's  be  broad.  That's  the 
game  you  like,  and  I  don't  criticise  you  fur  it.  It's 
a  good  game  if  that's  the  kind  of  a  game  you're 
huntin'  fur.  And  you  can  play  it  better'n  my  grand 
daughter.  She  wa'n't  meant  fur  it  —  and  I'd  rather 
have  her  marry  an  American,  anyhow.  Now  you 
like  it,  and  you  got  beauty  —  only  you  need  more 
money.  I'll  put  you  in  the  way  of  it,  and  you  can 
cut  out  my  granddaughter." 

"  I  must  think  about  it.  Suppose  I  plunge  in 
copper,  and  your  tip  isn't  straight.  I've  seen  hard 
times,  Mr.  Bines,  in  my  life.  I  haven't  always  wore 
sealskin  and  diamonds." 

"  Mrs.  Wybert,  you  was  in  Montana  long  enough 
to  know  how  I  stand  there?  " 

"I  know  you're  A  i,  and  your  word's  as  good 
as  another  man's  money.  I  don't  question  your 
good  intentions." 

"It's  my  judgment,  hey?  Now,  look  here,  I 
won't  tell  you  what  I  know  and  how  I  know  it, 
but  you  can  take  my  word  that  I  know  I  do  know. 
You  plunge  in  copper  right  off,  without  saying  a 


374  THE    SPENDERS 

word  to  anybody  or  makin'  any  splurge,  and 
here  — 

From  the  little  table  at  his  elbow  he  picked  up 
the  card  that  had  announced  him  and  drew  out  his 
pencil. 

"  You  said  my  word  was  as  good  as  another 
man's  money.  Now  I'm  going  to  write  on  this 
card  just  what  you  have  to  do,  and  you're  to  follow 
directions,  no  matter  what  you  hear  about  other 
people  doing.  There'll  be  all  sorts  of  reports  about 
that  stock,  but  you  follow  my  directions." 

He  wrote  on  the  back  of  the  card  with  his  pencil. 

"  Consolidated  Copper,  remember  —  and  now 
I'm  a-goin'  to  write  something  else  under  them 
directions. 

"  '  Do  this  up  to  the  limit  of  your  capital  and  I 
will  make  good  anything  you  lose.'  There,  Mrs. 
Wybert,  I've  signed  that  '  Peter  Bines.'  That  card 
wouldn't  be  worth  a  red  apple  in  a  court  of  law, 
but  you  know  me,  and  you  know  it's  good  fur  every 
penny  you  lose." 

"  Really,  Mr.  Bines,  you  half-way  persuade  me. 
I'll  certainly  try  the  copper  play  —  and  about  the 
other  —  well,  —  we'll  see;  I  don't  promise,  mind 
you !  " 

"  You  think  over  it.     I'm  sure  you'll  like  the  idea 

-  think  of  bein'  in  that  great  nobility,  and  bein' 

around  them  palaces  with  their  dukes  and  counts. 

Think    how    these    same    New    York    women    will 

meach  to  you  then !  " 

The  old  man  rose. 

"  And  mind,  follow  them  directions  and  no  other 


THE    SPENDERS  375 

—  makes  no  difference  what  you  hear,  or  I  won't 
be  responsible.  And  I'll  rely  on  you,  ma'am,  never 
to  let  anyone  know  about  my  visit,  and  to  send  me 
back  that  little  document  after  you've  cashed  in." 

He  left  her  studying  the  card  with  a  curious  little 
flash  of  surprise. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Devotion  to  Business  and  a  CJiance  Meeting 

IN  the  weeks  that  now  followed,  Percival 
became  a  model  of  sobriety  and  patient, 
unremitting  industry,  according  to  his  own 
ideas  of  industry.  He  visited  the  offices  of  his 
various  brokers  daily,  reading  the  tape  with  the 
single-hearted  devotion  of  a  veteran  speculator.  He 
acquired  a  general  knowledge  of  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  popular  stocks.  He  frequently  saw  opportunities 
for  quick  profit  in  other  stocks  than  the  three  he 
was  dealing  in,  but  he  would  not  let  himself  be 
diverted. 

"  I'm  centering  on  those  three,"  he  told  Uncle 
Peter.  "  When  they  win  out  we'll  take  up  some 
other  lines.  I  could  have  cleared  a  quarter  of  a 
million  in  that  Northern  Pacific  deal  last  week,  as 
easy  as  not.  I  saw  just  what  was  being  done  by 
that  Ledrick  combine.  But  we've  got  something 
better,  and  I  don't  want  to  take  chances  on  tying 
up  some  ready  money  we  might  need  in  a  hurry.  If 
a  man  gets  started  on  those  little  side  issues  he's 
too  apt  to  lose  his  head.  He  jumps  in  one  day,  and 
out  the  next,  and  gets  to  be  what  they  call  a  '  kanga- 

376 


THE    SPENDERS  377 

roo,'  down  in  the  Street.  It's  all  right  for  amuse 
ment,  but  the  big  money  is  in  cinching  one  deal 
and  pushing  hard.  It's  a  bull  market  now,  too ; 
buy  A.  O.  T.  is  the  good  word  —  Any  Old  Thing 
-  but  I'm  going  to  stay  right  by  my  little  line." 

"  You  certainly  have  a  genius  fur  finance,"  de 
clared  Uncle  Peter,  with  fervent  admiration.  "  This 
going  into  business  will  be  the  makin'  of  you. 
You'll  be  good  fur  something  else  besides  holdin' 
one  of  them  dinky  little  teacups,  and  talking  about 
'  trouserings  '  •  —  no  matter  what  people  say.  Let 
'em  talk  about  you  —  savin'  you'll  never  be  any 
thing  like  the  man  your  pa  was  —  you'll  show  'em." 

And  Percival,  important  with  his  secret  knowl 
edge  of  the  great  coup,  went  back  to  the  ticker,  and 
laughed  inwardly  at  the  seasoned  experts  who 
frankly  admitted  their  bewilderment  as  to  what  was 
"  doing  "  in  copper  and  Western  Trolley. 

"  When  it's  all  over,"  he  confided  gaily  to  the 
old  man,  "  we  ought  to  pinch  off  about  ten  per  cent 
of  the  winnings,  and  put  up  a  monument  to  absinthe 
frappc  —  the  stuff  Relpin  had  been  drinking  that 
day.  They'll  give  us  a  fine  public  square  for  it  in 
Paris  if  they  won't  here  in  New  York.  And  it 
wouldn't  do  any  good  to  give  it  to  Relpin,  who's 
really  earned  it  —  he'd  only  lush  himself  into  one  of 
those  drunkard's  graves  —  I  understand  there's  a 
few  left  yet." 

Early  in  March,  Coplen,  the  lawyer,  was  sent 
for,  and  with  him  Percival  spent  two  laborious 
weeks,  going  over  inventories  of  the  properties. 


378  THE    SPENDERS 

securities,  and  moneys  of  the  estate.  The  major 
portion  of  the  latter  was  now  invested  in  the  three 
stocks,  and  the  remainder  was  at  hand  where  it 
could  be  conveniently  reached. 

Percival  informed  himself  minutely  as  to  the 
values  of  the  different  mining  properties,  railroad 
and  other  securities.  A  group  of  the  lesser-paying 
mines  was  disposed  of  to  an  English  syndicate, 
the  proceeds  being  retained  for  the  stock  deal.  All 
but  the  best  paying  of  the  railroad,  smelting,  and 
land-improvement  securities  were  also  thrown  on 
the  market. 

The  experience  was  a  valuable  one  to  the  young 
man,  enlarging  greatly  his  knowledge  of  affairs, 
and  giving  him  a  needed  insight  into  the  methods 
by  which  the  fortune  had  been  accumulated. 

"  That  was  a  slow,  clumsy,  old-fashioned  way  to 
make  money,"  he  declared  to  Coplen.  "  Nowadays 
it's  done  quicker." 

His  grasp  of  details  delighted  Uncle  Peter  and 
surprised  Coplen. 

"  I  didn't  know  but  he  might  be  getting  plucked." 
said  Coplen  to  the  old  man.  "  with  all  that  money 
being  drawn  out  so  fast.  If  I  hadn't  known  you 
were  with  him,  I'd  have  taken  it  on  myself  to  find 
out  something  about  his  operations.  But  he's  all 
right,  apparently.  He  had  a  scent  like  a  hound  for 
those  dead-wood  properties  —  got  rid  of  them  while 
we  would  have  been  making  up  our  minds  to.  That 
boy  will  make  his  way  unless  I'm  mistaken.  He 
has  a  head  for  detail." 


THE    SPENDERS  379 

"  I'll  make  him  a  bigger  man  than  his  pa  was 
yet,"  declared  Uncle  Peter.  "  But  I  wouldn't  want 
to  let  on  that  I'd  had  anything  to  do  with  it.  He'll 
think  he's  done  it  all  himself,  and  it's  right  he  should. 
Ft  stimulates  'em.  Boys  of  his  age  need  just  about 
so  much  conceit,  and  it  don't  do  to  take  it  out  of 
"em." 

Reports  of  the  most  encouraging  character  came 
from  Burman.  The  deal  in  corn  was  being  engi 
neered  with  a  riper  caution  than  had  been  displayed 
in  the  ill-fated  wheat  deal  of  the  spring  before. 

"  Burman's  drawn  close  up  to  a  million  already," 
said  Percival  to  Uncle  Peter,  "  and  now  he  wants 
me  to  stand  ready  for  another  million." 

"  Is  Burman,"  asked  Uncle  Peter,  "  that  young 
fellow  that  had  a  habit  of  stanclin'  pat  on  a  pair 
of  Jacks,  and  then  bettin'  everybody  off  the  board  ?  " 

"  Yes,  that  was  Burman." 

"  Well,  I  liked  his  ways.  I  should  say  he  could 
do  you  a  whole  lot  of  good  in  a  corn  deal." 

"  It  certainly  does  look  good  —  and  Burman 
has  learned  the  ropes  and  spars.  They're  already 
calling  him  the  '  corn-king '  out  on  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade." 

"  Use  your  own  judgment,"  Uncle  Peter  urged 
him.  "  You're  the  one  that  knows  all  about  these 
things.  My  Lord!  how  you  ever  do  manage  to 
keep  things  runnin'  in  your  head  gets  me.  If  you 
got  confidence  in  Burman,  all  I  can  say  is  —  well, 
your  pa  was  a  fine  judge  of  men,  and  I  don't  see 
why  you  shouldn't  have  the  gift." 


380  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Between  you  and  me,  Uncle  Peter,  I  am  a  good 
judge  of  human  nature,  and  1  know  this  much  about 
Burman :  when  he  does  win  out  he'll  win  big.  And 
I  think  he's  going  to  whipsaw  the  market  to  a  stand 
still  this  time,  for  sure.  Here's  a  little  item  from 
this  morning's  paper  that  sounds  right,  all  along 
the  line." 

"  COPPER,  CORN,  AND  CORDAGE. 

"  There  are  just  now  three  great  movements  in 
the  market,  Copper  Trust  stock,  corn,  and  cordage 
stock.  The  upward  movement  in  corn  seems  to  be 
in  the  main  not  speculative  but  natural  —  the  result 
of  a  short  supply  and  a  long  demand.  The  move 
ments  in  Copper  and  Cordage  Trust  stocks  are 
purely  speculative.  The  copper  movement  is  based 
on  this  proposition :  Can  the  Copper  Trust  main 
tain  the  price  for  standard  copper  at  seventeen  cents 
a  pound,  in  face  of  enormously  increased  supply 
and  the  rapidly  decreasing  demand,  notably  in  Ger 
many  ?  The  bears  think  not.  The  bulls,  contrarily, 
persist  in  behaving  as  if  they  had  inside  information 
of  a  superior  value.  Just  possibly  a  simultaneous 
rise  in  corn,  copper,  and  cordage  will  be  the  next 
sensation  in  the  trading  world." 

"  You  see?  "  said  Percival.  "  They're  beginning 
to  wake  up,  down  there  —  beginning  to  turn  over 
in  their  sleep  and  mutter.  Pretty  soon  they'll  begin 
to  stretch  lazily:  when  they  finally  hear  something 
drop  and  jump  out  of  bed  it  will  be  too  late.  The 


THE    SPENDERS  381 

bulls  will  be  counting  their  chips  to  cash  in,  and  the 
man  waiting  around  to  put  out  the  lights.  And  I 
don't  see  why  Burman  isn't  as  safe  as  I  am." 

"  I  don't,  either,"  said  Uncle  Peter. 

"'A  short  supply  and  a  long  demand,' --it 
would  be  a  sin  to  let  any  one  else  in.  I'll  just  wire 
him  we're  on,  and  that  we  need  all  of  that  good 
thing  ourselves." 

In  the  flush  of  his  great  plans  and  great  expecta 
tions  came  a  chance  meeting  with  Miss  Milbrey. 
He  had  seen  her  only  at  a  distance  since  their  talk 
at  Newport.  Yet  the  thought  of  her  had  persisted 
as  a  plaintive  undertone  through  all  the  days  after. 
Only  the  sharp  hurt  to  his  sensitive  pride  —  from 
the  conviction  that  she  had  found  him  tolerable 
solely  because  of  the  money  —  had  saved  him  from 
the  willing  admission  to  himself  that  he  had  carried 
off  too  much  of  her  ever  to  forget.  In  his  quiet 
moments,  the  tones  of  her  clear,  low  voice  came 
movingly  to  his  ears,  and  his  eyes  conjured  invol 
untarily  her  girlish  animation,  her  rounded  young 
form,  her  colour  and  fire  —  the  choked,  smoulder 
ing  fire  of  opals.  He  saw  the  curve  of  her  wrist,  the 
confident  swing  of  her  walk,  the  easy  poise  of  her 
head,  her  bearing,  at  once  girlish  and  womanly, 
the  little  air,  half  of  wistful  appeal,  and  half  of 
self-reliant  assertion.  Yet  he  failed  not  to  regard 
these  indulgences  as  utter  folly.  It  had  been  folly 
enough  while  he  believed  that  she  stood  ready  to 
accept  him  and  his  wealth.  It  was  more  flagrant, 
now  that  her  quest  for  a  husband  with  millions  had 
been  so  handsomely  rewarded. 


382  THE    SPENDERS 

But  again,  the  fact  that  she  was  now  clearly  im 
possible  for  him,  so  that  even  a  degrading  sub 
mission  on  his  part  could  no  longer  secure  her, 
served  only  to  bring  her  attractiveness  into  greater 
relief.  With  the  fear  gone  that  a  sudden  impulse 
to  possess  her  might  lead  him  to  stultify  himself, 
he  could  see  more  clearly  than  ever  why  she  was 
and  promised  always  to  be  to  him  the  very  dearest 
woman  in  the  world  —  dearest  in  spite  of  all  he 
could  reason  about  so  lucidly.  He  felt,  then,  a  little 
shock  of  unreasoning  joy  to  find  one  night  that 
they  were  dining  together  at  the  Oldakers'. 

At  four  o'clock  he  had  received  a  hasty  note 
signed  "  Fidelia  Oldaker,"  penned  in  the  fine,  pre 
cise  script  of  some  young  ladies'  finishing  school 
-  perhaps  extinct  now-  for  fifty  years  —  imploring 
him,  if  aught  of  chivalry  survived  within  his  breast, 
to  fetch  his  young  grandfather  and  dine  with  her 
that  evening.  Two  men  had  inconsiderately  suc 
cumbed,  at  this  eleventh  hour,  to  the  prevailing 
grip-epidemic,  and  the  lady  threw  herself  confi 
dently  on  the  w7ell-known  generosity  of  the  Bines 
male  —  "  like  one  of  the  big,  stout  nets  those  acro 
batic  people  fall  into  from  their  high  bars,"  she 
concluded. 

Uncle  Peter  was  more  than  willing.  He  liked  the 
Oldakers. 

'  They're  the  only  sane  folks  I've  met  among 
your  friends,"  he  had  told  his  grandson.  He  had 
dined  there  frequently  during  the  winter,  and  pro 
fessed  to  be  enamoured  of  the  hostess.  That  fragile 


SPENDERS  383 

but  sprightly  bit  of  antiquity  professed  in  turn  to 
find  Uncle  Peter  a  very  dangerous  man  among  the 
ladies.  They  flirted  outrageously  at  every  oppor 
tunity,  and  Uncle  Peter  sent  her  more  violets  than 
many  a  popular  debutante  received  that  winter. 

Percival,  with  his  new  air  of  Wall  Street  opera 
tor,  was  inclined  to  hesitate. 

'  You  know  I'm  up  early  now,  Uncle  Peter,  to 
get  the  day's  run  of  the  markets  before  I  go  down 
town,  and  a  man  can't  do  much  in  the  way  of 
dinners  when  his  mind  is  working  all  day.  Perhaps 
Mauburn  will  go." 

But  Mauburn  was  taking  Psyche  and  Mrs.  Drel- 
mer  to  the  first  night  of  a  play,  and  Percival  was 
finally  persuaded  by  the  old  man  to  relax,  for  one 
evening,  the  austerity  of  his  regime. 

"  But  how  your  pa  would  love  to  see  you  so  con 
scientious,"  he  said,  "  and  you  with  Wall  Street, 
or  a  good  part  of  it,  right  under  your  heel,  just  like 
that,"  and  the  old  man  ground  his  heel  viciously 
into  the  carpet. 

When  Percival  found  Shepler  with  Mrs.  Van 
Geist  and  Miss  Milbrey  among  the  Oldakers'  guests, 
he  rejoiced.  Now  he  would  talk  to  her  without  any 
of  that  old  awkward  self-consciousness.  He  was 
even  audacious  enough  to  insist  that  Mrs.  Oldaker 
direct  him  to  take  Miss  Milbrey  out  to  dinner. 

"  I  claim  it  as  the  price  of  coming,  you  know, 
when  I  was  only  an  afterthought." 

'  You  shall  be  paid,  sir,"  his  hostess  declared, 
"  if  you  consider  it  pay  to  sit  beside  an  engaged 


384  THE    SPENDERS 

girl  whose  mind  is  full  of  her  trousseau.  And  here's 
this  captivating  young  scapegrace  relative  of  yours. 
What  price  does  he  demand  for  coming?  "  and  she 
glanced  up  at  Uncle  Peter  with  arch  liberality  in  her 
bright  eyes. 

That  gentleman  bowed  low  —  a  bow  that  had 
been  the  admiration  of  the  smartest  society  in  Mari 
etta  County,  Ohio,  fifty  years  and  more  ago. 

"  I'm  paid  fur  coming  by  coming,"  he  replied, 
urbanely. 

"  There,  now.!  "  cried  his  hostess,  "  that's  pretty, 
and  means  something.  You  shall  take  me  in  for 
that." 

"  I'll  have  to  give  you  a  credit-slip,  ma'am. 
You've  overpaid  me."  And  Mrs.  Oldaker,  with  a 
coy  fillip  of  her  fan,  called  him  a  naughty  boy. 

"  Here,  Rulon,"  she  called  to  Shepler,  "  are  two 
young  daredevils  who've  been  good  enough  to  save 
me  as  many  empty  chairs.  Now  you  shall  take  out 
Cornelia,  and  this  juvenile  sprig  shall  relieve  you 
of  Avice  Milbrey.  It's  a  providence.  You  engaged 
couples  are  always  so  dull  when  you're  banished 
from  your  own  del  a  deux." 

Shepler  bowed  and  greeted  the  two  men.  Per- 
cival  sought  Miss  Milbrey,  who  was  with  her  aunt 
at  the  other  side  of  the  old-fashioned  room,  a  room 
whose  brocade  hangings  had  been  imported  from 
England  in  the  days  of  the  Georges,  and  whose 
furniture  was  fabricated  in  the  time  when  France 
was  suffering  its  last  kings. 

He  no  longer  felt  the  presence  of  anything  overt 


THE    SPENDERS  385 

between  them.  The  girl  herself  seemed  to  have 
regained  the  charming  frankness  of  her  first  man 
ner  with  him.  Their  relationship  was  defined  irrev 
ocably.  No  uncertainty  of  doubt  or  false  seeming 
hirked  now  under  the  surface  to  perplex  and 
embarrass.  The  relief  was  felt  at  once  by  each. 

"  I'm  to  have  the  pleasure  of  taking  you  in,  Miss 
Milbrey  —  hostess  issues  special  commands  to  that 
effect." 

"  Isn't  that  jolly !    We've  not  met  for  an  age." 

"  And  I've  such  an  appetite  for-  talk  with  you, 
I  fear  I  won't  eat  a  thing.  If  I'd  known  you  were 
to  be  here  I'd  have  taken  the  forethought  to  eat  a 
gored  ox,  or  something  —  what  is  the  proverb, 
'  better  a  dinner  of  stalled  ox  where  — 

"'Where  talk  is/'  suggested  Miss  Milbrey, 
quickly. 

"  Oh,  yes  —  '  than  to  have  your  own  ox  gored 
without  a  word  of  talk.'  I  remember  it  perfectly 
now.  And  —  there  —  we're  moving  on  to  this 
feast  of  reason  — 

"  And  the  flow  of  something  superior  to  reason," 
finished  Shepler,  who  had  come  over  for  Mrs.  Van 
Geist.  "  Oldaker  has  some  port  that  lay  in  the  wood 
in  his  cellar  for  forty  years  —  and  went  around  the 
world  between  keel  and  canvas." 

"  That  sounds  good,"  said  Percival,  and  then  to 
Miss  Milbrey,  "  But  come,  let  us  reason  together." 
His  next  sentiment,  unuttered,  was  that  the  soft 
touch  of  her  hand  under  his  arm  was  headier  than 
any  drink,  how  ancient  soever. 


386  THE    SPENDERS 

Throughout  the  dinner  their  entire  absorption  in 
each  other  was  all  but  unbroken.  Percival  never 
could  remember  who  had  sat  at  his  left;  and  Miss 
Milbrey's  right-hand  neighbour  saw  more  than  the 
winning  line  of  her  profile  but  twice.  Percival 
began  — 

"  Do  you  know,  I've  never  been  able  to  classify 
you  at  all.  I  never  could  tell  how  to  take  you." 

"  I'll  tell  you  a  secret,  Mr.  Bines ;  I  think  I'm  not 
to  be  taken  at  all.  I've  begun  to  suspect  that  I'm 
like  one  of  those  words  that  haven't  any  rhyme  — 
like  '  orange  '  and  '  month,'  you  know." 

"  But  you  find  poetry  in  life?    I  do." 

"  Plenty  of  verse  —  not  much  poetry." 

"  How  would  you  order  life  now,  if  the  little  old 
wishing-lady  came  to  your  door  and  knocked?  " 

And  they  plunged  forthwith,  buoyed  by  youth's 
divine  effrontery,  into  mysteries  that  have  vexed 
diners,  not  less  than  hermit  sages,  since  "  the  fog  of 
old  time  "  first  obscured  truth.  Of  life  and  death 

—  the  ugliness  of  life,  and  the  beauty  of  death  — 

"...  even  as  death  might  smile, 
Petting  the  plumes  of  some  surprised  soul," 

quoted  the  girl.  Of  loving  and  hating,  they  talked ; 
of  trying  and  failing — of  the  implacable  urge  under 
which  men  must  strive  in  the  face  of  certain  defeat 

—  of  the  probability  that  men  are  purposely  born 
fools,  since,  if  they  were  born  wise  they  would  re 
fuse  to   strive;    whereupon   life   and   death   would 
merge,  and  naught  would  prevail  but  a  vast  indiffer- 


THE    SPENDERS  387 

ence.  In  fact,  they  were  very  deep,  and  affected  to 
consider  these  grave  matters  seriously.  They 
affected  that  they  never  habitually  thought  of  lesser 
concerns.  And  they  had  the  air  of  listening  to  each 
other  as  if  they  were  weighing  the  words  judi 
cially,  and  were  quite  above  any  mere  sensuous 
considerations  of  personality. 

Once  they  emerged  long  enough  to  hear  the 
hostess  speaking,  as  it  were  of  yesterday,  of  a 
day  when  the  new  "  German  cotillion  "  was  intro 
duced,  to  make  a  sensation  in  New  York ;  of  a  time 
when  the  best  ballrooms  were  heated  with  wood 
stoves  and  lighted  with  lamps;  and  of  a  later  but 
apparently  still  remote  time  when  the  Assemblies 
were  "  really,  quite  the  smartest  function  of  the 
season." 

In  another  pause,  they  caught  the  kernel  of  a 
story  being  told  by  Uncle  Peter : 

"  The  girl  was  a  half-breed,  but  had  a  fair  skin 
and  the  biggest  shock  of  hair  you  ever  saw  —  bright 
yellow  hair.  She  was  awful  proud  of  her  hair.  So 
when  her  husband,  Clem  Dewier,  went  to  this  priest, 
Father  McNally,  and  complained  that  she  would 
run  away  from  the  shack  and  hang  around  the 
dance-halls  down  at  this  mining-camp,  Father  Mc 
Nally  made  up  his  mind  to  learn  her  a  lesson.  Well, 
he  goes  down  and  finds  her  jest  comin'  out  of  Tim 
Healy's  place  with  two  other  women.  He  rushes 
up  to  her,  catches  hold  of  this  big  shock  of  hair 
that  was  trailin'  behind  her,  and  before  she  knew 
what  was  comin'  he  whipped  out  a  big  pair  of  sharp, 


388  THE   SPENDERS 

shiny  shears,  and  made  as  if  he  was  going  to  give 
her  a  hair-cut.  At  that  she  begins  to  scream,  but  the 
priest  he  wouldn't  let  go.  '  I'll  cut  it  off,'  he  says, 
'  close,'  he  says,  '  if  you  don't  swear  on  this  crucifix 
to  be  a  good  squaw  to  Clem  Dewier,  and  never  set  so 
much  as  one  of  your  little  feet  in  these  places  again.' 
She  could  feel  the  shears  against  her  hair,  and  she 
was  so  scared  she  swore  like  he  told  her.  And  so  she 
was  that  afraid  of  losin'  her  fine  yellow  hair  after 
ward,  knowin'  Father  McNally  was  a  man  that 
didn't  make  no  idle  threats,  that  she  kept  prim  and 
proper  —  fur  a  half-breed." 

"  That  poor  creature  had  countless  sisters,"  was 
Miss  Milbrey's  comment  to  Percival.  And  they 
fell  together  once  more  in  deciding  whether,  after 
all,  the  brightest  women  ever  cease  to  believe  that 
men  are  influenced  most  by  surface  beauties.  They 
fired  each  other's  enthusiasm  for  expressing  opin 
ions,  and  they  took  the  opinions  very  seriously.  Yet 
of  their  meeting,  to  an  observer,  their  talk  would 
have  seemed  the  part  least  worth  recording. 

Twice  Percival  caught  Shepler's  regard  bent  upon 
them.  It  amused  him  to  think  he  detected  signs  of 
uneasiness  back  of  the  survey,  cool,  friendly,  and 
guarded  as  it  was  on  the  surface. 

At  parting,  later,  Percival  spoke  for  the  first  time 
to  Miss  Milbrey  of  her  engagement. 

"  You  must  know  that  I  wish  you  all  the  happi 
ness  you  hope  for  yourself;  and  if  I  were  as  lucky 
in  love  as  Mr.  Shepler  has  been,  I  surely  would 
never  dare  to  gamble  in  anything  else  —  you  know 
the  saying." 


THE    SPENDERS  389 

"  And  you,  Mr.  Bines.  I've  been  hearing  so 
much  of  your  marriage.  I  hope  the  rumour  I  heard 
to-day  is  true,  that  your  engagement  has  been 
announced." 

He  laughed. 

"  Come,  now  !  That's  all  gossip,  you  know ;  not  a 
word  of  truth  in  it,  and  it's  been  very  annoying  to 
us  both.  Please  demolish  that  rumour  on  my 
authority  next  time  you  hear  it,  thoroughly,  so  they 
can  make  nothing  out  of  the  pieces." 

Miss  Milbrey  showed  genuine  disappointment. 

"  I  had  thought,  naturally  - 

"  The  only  member  of  that  household  I  could 
marry  is  not  suited  to  my  age." 

Miss  Milbrey  \vas  puzzled. 

"  But,  really,  she's  not  so  old." 

"  No,  not  so  very  old.  Still,  she's  going  on  five, 
and  you  know  how  time  flies  —  and  so  much  dis 
parity  in  our  ages  —  twenty-one  years  or  so ;  no, 
she  was  no  wife  for  me,  although  I  don't  mind  con 
fessing  that  there  has  been  an  affair  between  us, 
but  —  really  you  can't  imagine  what  a  frivolous 
and  trifling  creature  she  is." 

Miss  Milbrey  laughed  now,  rather  painfully  he 
fancied. 

"  You  mean  the  baby?    Isn't  she  a  little  dear?  " 

"  I'll  tell  you  something,  just  between  us  —  the 
baby's  mother  is  —  well,  I  like  her  —  but  she's  a 
joke.  That's  all,  a  joke." 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  for  talking  of  it.  It  had 
seemed  so  definite.  They're  waiting  for  me  - 


390  THE    SPENDERS 

good  night  —  so  glad  to  have  seen  you  —  and, 
nevertheless,  she's  a  very  practical  joke!  " 

He  watched  her  with  frank,  utter  longing,  as  she 
moved  over  to  Mrs.  Oldaker,  tender,  girlish,  ap 
pealing,  with  the  old  air  of  timid  wistfulness,  kept 
guard  over  by  her  woman's  knowledge.  His  fingers 
still  curved,  as  if  they  were  loth  to  forget  the  clasp 
of  her  warm,  firm  little  hand.  She  was  gowned  in 
white  fleece,  and  she  wore  one  pink  rose  where  she 
could  bend  her  blue  eyes  down  upon  it. 

And  she  was  going  to  marry  Shepler  for  his 
millions.  She  might  even  yet  regret  that  she  had 
not  waited  for  him,  when  his  own  name  had  been 
written  up  as  the  wizard  of  markets,  and  the  master 
of  millions.  Since  money  was  all  she  loved,  he 
would  show  her  that  even  in  that  he  was  pre-em 
inent  ;  though  he  would  still  have  none  of  her.  And 
as  for  Shepler  —  he  wondered  if  Shepler  knew  just 
what  risks  he  might  be  taking  on. 

"  Oh,  Miitterchen !  Wasn't  it  the  jolliest  even- 
ing?" 

They  were  in  the  carriage. 

"  Did  you  and  Mr.  Bines  enjoy  yourselves  as 
much  as  you  seemed  to?  " 

"And  isn't  his  grandfather  an  old  dear?  What 
an  interesting  little  story  about  that  woman.  I 
know  just  how  she  felt.  You  see,  sir,"  she  turned 
to  Shepler,  "  there  is  always  a  way  to  manage  a 
\voman  —  you  must  find  her  weakness." 

"  He's  a  very  unusual  old  chap,"  said  Shepler. 
"  I  had  occasion  not  long  since  to  tell  him  that  a 


THE    SPENDERS  391 

certain  business  plan  he  proposed  was  entirely  with 
out  precedent.  His  answer  was  characteristic.  He 
said,  '  We  make  precedents  in  the  West  when  we 
can't  find  one  to  suit  us.'  It  seemed  so  typical  of 
the  people  to  me.  You  never  can  tell  what  they 
may  do.  You  see  they  were  started  out  of  old  ruts 
by  some  form  of  necessity,  almost  every  one  of 
them,  when  they  went  West,  and  as  necessity  stimu 
lates  only  the  brightest  people  to  action,  those  West 
erners  are  apt  to  be  of  a  pretty  keen,  active,  and 
sturdy  mental  type.  As  this  old  chap  says,  they 
never  hang  back  for  lack  of  precedents;  they  go 
ahead  and  make  them.  They're  not  afraid  to  take 
sudden  queer  steps.  But,  really,  I  like  them  both." 
"  So  do  I,"  said  his  betrothed. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

The  Amateur  Napoleon  of  Wall  Street 

AT  the  beginning  of  April,  the  situation  in  the 
three  stocks  Percival  had  bought  so  heavily 
grew  undeniably  tense.  Consolidated  Cop 
per  went  from  109  to  103  in  a  week.  But  Percival's 
enthusiasm  suffered  little  abatement  from  the  drop. 

"  You  see,"  he  reminded  Uncle  Peter,  "  it  isn't 
exactly  what  I  expected,  but  it's  right  in  line  with 
it,  so  it  doesn't  alarm  me.  I  knew  those  fellows 
inside  were  bound  to  hammer  it  down  if  they  could. 
It  wouldn't  phase  me  a  bit  if  it  sagged  to  95." 

"My!  My!"  Uncle  Peter  exclaimed,  with 
warm  approval,  "  the  way  you  master  this  business 
certainly  does  win  me.  I  tell  you,  it's  a  mighty  good 
thing  we  got  your  brains  to  depend  on.  I'm  all 
right  the  other  side  of  Council  Bluffs,  but  I'm  a 
tenderfoot  here,  sure,  where  everybody's  tryin'  to 
get  the  best  of  you.  You  see,  out  there,  everybody 
tries  to  make  the  best  of  it.  But  here  they  try  to 
get  the  best  of  it.  I  told  that  to  one  of  them 
smarties  last  night.  But  you'll  put  them  in  their 
place  all  right.  You  know  both  ends  of  the  game 
and  the  middle.  We  certainly  got  a  right  to  be 

392 


THE    SPENDERS  393 

proud  of  you,  son.  Dan'l  J.  liked  big  propositions 
himself  —  but,  well,  I'd  just  like  to  have  him  see 
the  nerve  you've  showed,  that's  all." 

Uncle  Peter's  professions  of  confidence  were  un 
failing,  and  Percival  took  new  hope  and  faith  in 
his  judgment  from  them  daily. 

Nevertheless,  as  the  weeks  passed,  and  the  mys 
terious  insiders  succeeded  in  their  design  of  keeping 
the  stock  from  rising,  he  came  to  feel  a  touch  of 
anxiety.  More,  indeed,  than  he  was  able  to  com 
municate  to  Uncle  Peter,  without  confessing  out 
right  that  he  had  lost  faith  in  himself.  That  he 
was  unable  to  do,  even  if  it  were  true,  which  he 
doubted.  The  Bines  fortune  was  now  hanging,  as 
to  all  but  some  of  the  Western  properties,  on  the 
turning  of  the  three  stocks.  Yet  the  old  man's 
confidence  in  the  young  man's  acumen  was  invul 
nerable.  No  shaft  that  Percival  was  able  to  fashion 
had  point  enough  to  pierce  it.  And  he  was  loth  to 
batter  it  down,  for  he  still  had  the  gambler's  faith 
in  his  luck. 

'  You  got  your  father's  head  in  business  mat 
ters,"  was  Uncle  Peter's  invariable  response  to  any 
suggestion  of  failure.  "  I  know  that  much  —  spite 
of  what  all  these  gossips  say  —  and  that's  all  I 
•want  to  know.  And  of  course  you  can't  ever  be 
no  Shepler  'less  you  take  your  share  of  chances. 
Only  don't  ask  tny  advice.  You're  master  of  the 
game,  and  we're  all  layin'  right  smack  down  on  your 
genius  fur  it." 

Whereupon  the  young  man,  with  confidence  in 


394  THE    SPENDERS 

himself  newly  inflated,  would  hurry  off  to  the  stock 
tickers.  He  had  ceased  to  buy  the  stocks  outright, 
and  for  several  weeks  had  bought  only  on  margins. 

"  There  was  one  rule  in  poker  your  pa  had,"  said 
Uncle  Peter.  "  If  a  hand  is  worth  calling  on,  it's 
worth  raising  on.  He  jest  never  would  call.  If 
he  didn't  think  a  hand  was  worth  raising,  he'd 
bunch  it  in  with  the  discards,  and  wait  fur  another 
deal.  I  don't  know  much  about  the  game,  but  he 
said  it  was  a  sound  rule,  and  if  it  was  sound  in 
poker,  why  it's  got  to  be  sound  in  this  game.  That's 
all  I  can  tell  you.  You  know  what  you  hold,  and 
if  'tain't  a  hand  to  lay  down,  it  must  be  a  hand  to 
raise  on.  Of  course,  if  you'd  been  brash  and  igno 
rant  in  your  first  calculations  —  if  you'd  made  a 
fool  of  yourself  at  the  start  —  but  shucks!  you're 
the  son  of  Daniel  J.  Bines,  ain't  you?  " 

The  rule  and  the  clever  provocation  had  their 
effect. 

"  I'll  raise  as  long  as  I  have  a  chip  left,  Uncle 
Peter.  Why,  only  to-day  I  had  a  tip  that  came 
straight  from  Shepler,  though  he  never  dreamed 
it  would  reach  me.  That  Pacific  Cable  bill  is  going 
to  be  rushed  through  at  this  session  of  Congress, 
sure,  and  that  means  enough  increased  demand  to 
send  Consolidated  back  where  it  was.  And  then, 
when  it  comes  out  that  they've  got  those  Rio  Tinto 
mines  by  the  throat,  well,  this  anvil  chorus  will 
have  to  stop,  and  those  Federal  Oil  sharks  and 
Shepler  will  be  wondering  how  I  had  the  face  to 
stay  in." 


THE    SPENDERS  395 

The  published  rumours  regarding  Consolidated 
began  to  conflict  very  sharply.  Percival  read  them 
all  hungrily,  disregarding  those  that  did  not  con 
firm  his  own  opinions.  He  called  them  irresponsible 
newspaper  gossip,  or  believed  them  to  be  inspired 
by  the  clique  for  its  own  ends. 

He  studied  the  history  of  copper  until  he  knew 
all  its  ups  and  downs  since  the  great  electrical  de 
velopment  began  in  1887.  When  Fouts,  the  broker 
he  traded  most  heavily  with,  suggested  that  the  Con 
solidated  Company  was  skating  on  thin  ice,  that 
it  might,  indeed,  be  going  through  the  same  experi 
ence  that  shattered  the  famous  Secretan  corner  a 
dozen  years  before,  Percival  pointed  out  unerringly 
the  vital  difference  in  the  circumstances.  The  Con 
solidated  had  reduced  the  production  of  its  con 
trolled  mines,  and  the  price  was  bound  to  be 
maintained.  When  his  adviser  suggested  that  the 
companies  not  in  the  combine  might  cut  the  price, 
he  brought  up  the  very  lively  rumours  of  a 
''  gentlemen's  agreement  "  with  the  "  non-combine  " 
producers. 

"  Of  course,  there's  Calumet  and  Hecla.  I  know 
that  couldn't  be  gunned  into  the  combination.  They 
could  pay  dividends  with  copper  at  ten  cents  a 
pound.  But  the  other  independents  know  which 
side  of  their  stock  is  spread  with  dividends,  all 
right." 

When  it  was  further  suggested  that  the  Rio  Tinto 
mines  had  sold  ahead  for  a  year,  with  the  result 
that  European  imports  from  the  United  States  had 


396  THE    SPENDERS 

fallen  off,  and  that  the  Consolidated  could  not  go 
on  for  ever  holding  up  the  price,  Percival  said 
nothing. 

The  answer  to  that  was  the  secret  negotiations 
for  control  of  the  European  output,  which  would 
make  the  Consolidated  master  of  the  copper  world. 
Instead  of  disclosing  this,  he  pretended  craftily  to 
be  encouraged  by  the  mere  generally  hopeful  out 
look  in  all  lines.  Western  Trolley,  too,  might  be 
overcapitalised,  and  Union  Cordage  might  also  be 
in  the  hands  of  a  piratical  clique ;  but  the  demand 
for  trolley  lines  was  growing  every  day,  and  cord 
age  products  were  not  going  out  of  fashion  by  any 
means. 

"  You  see,"  he  said  to  his  adviser,  "  here's  what 
the  most  conservative  man  in  the  Street  says  in  this 
afternoon's  paper.  '  That  copper  must  necessarily 
break  badly,  and  the  whole  boom  collapse  I  do  not 
believe.  There  is  enough  prosperity  to  maintain 
a  strong  demand  for  the.  metal  through  another 
year  at  least.  As  to  Western  Trolley  and  Union 
Cordage,  the  two  other  stocks  about  which  doubt 
is  now  being  so  widely  expressed  in  the  Street,  I 
am  persuaded  that  they  are  both  due  to  rise,  not 
sensationally,  but  at  a  healthy  upward  rate  that 
makes  them  sound  investments !  ' 

"  There,"  said  Percival,  "  there's  the  judgment  of 
a  man  that  knows  the  game,  but  doesn't  happen  to 
have  a  dollar  in  either  stock,  and  he  doesn't  know 
one  or  two  things  that  I  know7,  either.  Just  hypothe 
cate  ten  thousand  of  those  Union  Cordage  shares 


THE    SPENDERS  397 

and  five  thousand  Western  Trolley,  and  buy  Con 
solidated  on  a  twenty  per  cent  margin.  I  want  to 
get  bigger  action.  There's  a  good  rule  in  poker :  if 
your  hand  is  worth  calling,  it's  worth  raising." 

"  I  like  your  nerve,"  said  the  broker. 

"  Well,  I  know  some  one  who  has  a  sleeve  with 
something  up  it,  that's  all." 

By  the  third  week  in  April,  it  was  believed  that 
his  holdings  of  Consolidated  were  the  largest  in 
the  Street,  excepting  those  of  the  Federal  Oil  people. 
Uncle  Peter  was  delighted  by  the  magnitude  of  his 
operations,  and  by  his  newly  formed  habits  of 
industry. 

"  It'll  be  the  makings  of  the  boy,"  he  said  to  Mrs. 
Bines  in  her  son's  presence.  "  Not  that  I  care  so 
much  myself  about  all  the  millions  he'll  pile  up,  but 
it  gives  him  a  business  training,  and  takes  him  out 
of  the  pin-head  class.  I  bet  Shepler  himself  will 
be  takin'  off  his  silk  hat  to  your  son,  jest  as  soon 
as  he's  made  this  turn  in  copper  —  if  he  has  enough 
of  Dan'l  J.'s  grit  to  hang  on  —  and  I  think  he  has." 
'  They  needn't  wait  another  day  for  me,"  Per- 
cival  told  him  later.  "  The  family  treasure  is  about 
all  in  now,  except  ma's  amethyst  earrings,  and  the 
hair  watch-chain  Grandpa  Cummings  had.  Of 
course  I'm  holding  what  I  promised  for  Burman. 
But  that  rise  can't  hold  off  much  longer,  and  the 
only  thing  I'll  do,  from  now  on,  is  to  hock  a  few- 
blocks  of  the  stock  I  bought  outright,  and  buy  on 
margins,  so's  to  get  bigger  action." 

"  My!     My!    you  jest  do  fairly  dazzle  me,"  ex- 


398  THE    SPENDERS 

claimed  the  old  man,  delightedly.  "Oh,  I  guess  your 
pa  wouldn't  be  at  all  proud  of  you  if  he  could  see 
it.  I  tell  you,  this  family's  all  right  while  you  keep 
hearty." 

"  Well,  I'm  not  pushing  my  chest  out  any,"  said 
the  young  man,  with  becoming  modesty,  "  but  I 
don't  mind  telling  you  it  will  be  the  biggest  thing 
ever  pulled  off  down  there  by  any  one  man." 

"  That's  the  true  Western  spirit,"  declared  Uncle 
Peter,  beside  himself  with  enthusiasm.  "  We  do 
things  big  when  we  bother  with  'em  at  all.  We 
ain't  afraid  of  any  pikers  like  Shepler,  with  his 
little  two  and  five  thousand  lots.  Oh !  I  can  jest 
hear  'em  callin'  you  hard  names  down  in  that  Wall 
Street  —  Napoleon  of  Finance  and  Copper  King 
and  all  like  that  —  in  about  thirty  days !  " 

He  accepted  Percival's  invitation  that  afternoon 
to  go  down  into  the  Street  with  him.  They  stopped 
for  a  moment  in  the  visitors'  gallery  of  the  Stock 
Exchange  and  looked  down  into  the  mob  of  writh 
ing,  dishevelled,  shouting  brokers.  In  and  out,  the 
throng  swirled  upon  itself,  while  above  its  muddy 
depths  surged  a  froth  of  hands  in  frenzied  gesticu 
lation.  The  frantic  movement  and  din  of  shrieks 
disturbed  Uncle  Peter. 

"  Faro  is  such  a  lot  quieter  game,"  was  his  com 
ment;  "so  much  more  ca'm  and  restful.  What  a 
pity,  now,  'tain't  as  Christian !  " 

Then  they  made  the  rounds  of  the  brokers' 
offices  in  New,  Broad,  and  Wall  Streets. 

They  reached  the  office  of  Fonts,  in  the  latter 


THE    SPENDERS  399 

street,  just  as  the  Exchange  had  closed.  In  the 
outer  trading-room  groups  of  men  were  still  about 
the  tickers,  rather  excitedly  discussing  the  last  quo 
tations.  Percival  made  his  way  toward  one  of 
them  with  a  dim  notion  that  he  might  be  concerned. 
He  was  relieved  when  he  saw  Gordon  Blythe,  suave 
and  smiling,  in  the  midst  of  the  group,  still  regard 
ing  the  tape  he  held  in  his  hands.  Blythe,  too,  had 
plunged  in  copper.  He  had  been  one  of  the  few 
as  sanguine  as  Percival  —  and  Blythe's  manner 
now  reassured  him.  Copper  had  obviously  not 
gone  wrong. 

"Ah,  Blythe,  how  did  we  close?  Mr.  Blythe, 
my  grandfather,  Mr.  Bines." 

Blythe  was  the  model  of  easy,  indolent,  happy 
middle-age.  His  tall  hat,  frock  coat  with  a  car 
nation  in  the  lapel,  the  precise  crease  of  his  trousers, 
the  spickness  of  his  patent-leathers  and  his  grace 
ful  confidence  of  manner,  proclaimed  his  mind  to  be 
free  from  all  but  the  pleasant  things  of  life.  He 
greeted  Uncle  Peter  airily. 

"  Come  down  to  see  how  we  do  it,  eh,  Mr.  Bines? 
It's  vastly  engrossing,  on  my  word.  Here's  cop 
per  just  closed  at  93,  after  opening  strong  this 
morning  at  105.  I  hardly  fancied,  you  know,  it 
could  fall  off  so  many  of  those  wretched  little  points. 
Rumours  that  the  Consolidated  has  made  large  sales 
of  the  stuff  in  London  at  sixteen,  I  believe.  One 
never  can  be  quite  aware  of  what  really  governs 
these  absurd  fluctuations." 

Percival   was   staring   at   Blythe   in   unconcealed 


400  THE    SPENDERS 

amazement.  He  turned,  leaving  Uncle  Peter  still 
chatting  with  him,  and  sought  Fonts  in  the  inner 
office.  When  he  came  out  ten  minutes  later  Uncle 
Peter  was  waiting  for  him  alone. 

"  Your  friend  Mr.  Blythe  is  a  clever  sort  of  man, 
jolly  and  light-hearted  as  a  boy." 

"  Let's  go  out  and  have  a  drink,  before  we  go 
up-town." 

In  the  cafe  of  the  Savarin,  to  which  he  led  Uncle 
Peter,  they  saw  Blythe  again.  He  was  seated  at 
one  of  the  tables  with  a  younger  man.  Uncle  Peter 
and  Percival  sat  down  at  a  table  near  by. 

Blythe  was  having  trouble  about  his  wine. 

"  Now,  George/'  he  was  saying,  "  give  us  a  real 
lively  pint  of  wine.  You  see,  yourself,  that  cork 
isn't  fresh;  show  it  to  Frank  there,  and  look  at  the 
wine  itself  —  come  now,  George !  Hardly  a  bubble 
in  it !  Tell  Frank  I'll  leave  it  to  him,  by  Gad !  if 
this  bottle  is  right." 

The  waiter  left  with  the  rejected  wine,  and  they 
heard  Blythe  resume  to  his  companion,  with  the 
relish  of  a  connoisseur : 

"  It's  simply  a  matter  of  genius,  old  chap  —  you 
understand  ?  —  to  tell  good  wine  —  that  is  really 
to  discriminate  finely.  If  a  chap's  not  born  with 
the  gift  he's  an  ass  to  think  he  can  acquire  it. 
Sometime  you've  a  setter  pup  that  looks  fit  —  head 
good,  nose  all  right  —  all  the  markings  —  but  you 
try  him  out  and  you  know  in  half  an  hour  he'll 
never  do  in  the  world.  Then  it's  better  to  take  him 
out  back  of  the  barn  and  shoot  him,  by  Gad !  rather 


THE    SPENDERS  401 

than  have  his  strain  corrupt  the  rest  of  the  kennel, 
lie  can't  acquire  the  gift,  and  no  more  can  a  chap 
acquire  this  gift.  Ah!  I  was  right,  was  I,  George? 
Look  how  different  that  cork  is." 

He  sipped  the  bubbling  amber  wine  with  cautious 
and  exacting  appreciation.  As  the  waiter  would 
have  refilled  the  glasses,  Blythe  stopped  him. 

"  Nowr,  George,  let  me  tell  you  something. 
You're  serving  at  this  moment  the  only  gentleman's 
drink.  Do  it  right,  George.  Listen!  Never  refill 
a  gentleman's  glass  until  it's  quite  empty.  Do 
you  know  why?  Think,  George!  You  pour  fresh 
wine  into  stale  wine  and  what  have  you  ?  —  neither. 
I've  taught  you  something,  George.  Never  fill  a 
glass  till  it's  empty." 

"  It  beats  me,"  said  Uncle  Peter,  when  Blythe 
and  his  companion  had  gone,  "  how  easy  them  rich 
codgers  get  along.  That  fellow  must  'a'  made  a 
study  of  wines,  and  nothing  worse  ever  bothers  him 
than  a  waiter  fillin'  his  glass  wrong." 

'  You'll  be  beat  more,"  answered  Percival,  "when 
I  tell  you  this  slump  in  copper  has  just  ruined  him 
-  wiped  out  every  cent  he  had.  He'd  just  taken  it 
off  the  ticker  when  we  found  him  in  Fouts's  place 
there.  He's  lost  a  million  and  a  half,  every  cent 
he  had  in  the  world,  and  he  has  a  wife  and  two 
grown  daughters." 

"Shoo!  you  don't  say!  And  I'd  have  sworn 
he  didn't  care  a  row  of  pins  whether  copper  went  up 
or  down.  He  was  a  lot  more  worried  about  that 
champagne.  Well,  well!  he  certainly  is  a  game 


402  THE    SPENDERS 

loser.  I  got  more  respect  fur  him  now.  This  town 
does  produce  thoroughbreds,  you  can't  deny  that." 

"  Uncle  Peter,  she's  down  to  93,  and  I've  had 
to  margin  up  a  good  bit.  I  didn't  think  it  could 
get  below  95  at  the  worst." 

"  Oh,  I  can't  bother  about  them  things.  Just 
think  of  when  she  booms." 

"  I  do  —  but  say  —  do  you  think  we  better  pinch 
our  bets  ?  " 

Uncle  Peter  finished  his  glass  of  beer. 

"  Lord !  don't  ask  me,''  he  replied,  with  the  un 
concern  of  perfect  trust.  "  Of  course  if  you've  lost 
your  nerve,  or  if  you  think  all  these  things  you 
been  tellin'  me  was  jest  some  one  foolin'  you  - 

"  No,  I  know  better  than  that,  and  I  haven't  lost 
my  nerve.  After  all,  it  only  means  that  the  crowd 
is  looking  for  a  bigger  rake-off." 

"  Your  pa  always  kept  his  nerve,"  said  Uncle 
Peter.  "  I've  known  him  to  make  big  money  by 
keepin'  it  when  other  men  lost  theirs.  Of  course 
he  had  genius  fur  it,  and  you're  purty  young 
yet- 

"  I  only  thought  of  it  for  a  minute.  I  didn't  really 
mean  it." 

They  read  the  next  afternoon  that  Gordon  Blythe 
had  been  found  dead  of  asphyxiation  in  a  little 
down-town  hotel  under  circumstances  that  left  no 
doubt  of  his  suicide. 

"  That  man  wa'n't  so  game  as  we  thought,"  said 
Uncle  Peter.  "  He's  left  his  family  to  starve.  Now 
your  pa  was  a  game  loser  fur  fair.  Dan'l  J.  would 
'a'  called  fur  another  deck." 


THE    SPENDERS  403 

"  And  copper's  up  two  points  to-day,"  said  Per- 
cival,  cheerfully.  He  had  begun  to  be  depressed 
with  forebodings  of  disaster,  and  this  slight 
recovery  was  cheering. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  continued,  "  there  may  be  an 
other  gas-jet  blown  out  in  a  few  days.  That  party, 
you  know,  our  friend  from  Montana,  has  been  sell 
ing  Consolidated  right  and  left.  Where  do  you 
suppose  she  got  any  such  tip  as  that?  Well,  I'm 
buying  and  she's  selling,  and  we'll  have  that  money 
back.  She'll  be  wiped  off  the  board  when  Con 
solidated  soars." 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

How  the  Chinook  Came  to    Wall  Street 

THE  loss  of  much  money  is  commonly  a  sub 
ject  to  be  managed  with  brevity  and  aversion 
by  one  who  sits  down  with  the  right  rever 
ence  for  sheets  of  clean  paper.  To  bewail  is  painful. 
To  affect  lightness,  on  the  other  hand,  would,  in 
this  age,  savour  of  insincerity,  if  not  of  downright 
blasphemy.  More  than  a  bare  recital  of  the 
wretched  facts,  therefore,  is  not  seemly. 

The  Bines  fortune  disappeared  much  as  a  heavy 
fall  of  snow  melts  under  the  Chinook  wind. 

That  phenomenon  is  not  uninteresting.  We  may 
picture  a  far-reaching  waste  of  snow,  wind-fur 
rowed  until  it  resembles  a  billowy  white  sea  frozen 
motionless.  The  wind  blows  half  a  gale  and  the 
air  is  full  of  fine  ice-crystals  that  sting  the  face 
viciously.  The  sun,  lying  low  on  the  southern 
horizon,  seems  a  mere  frozen  globe,  with  lustrous 
pink  crescents  encircling  it. 

One  day  the  wind  backs  and  shifts.  A  change 
portends.  Even  the  herds  of  half-frozen  range 
cattle  sense  it  by  some  subtle  beast-knowledge. 
They  are  no  longer  afraid  to  lie  down  as  they  may 
have  been  for  a  week.  The  danger  of  freezing  has 

404 


THE    SPENDERS  405 

passed.  The  temperature  has  been  at  fifty  degrees 
below  zero.  Now,  suddenly  it  begins  to  rise.  The 
air  is  scarcely  in  motion,  but  occasionally  it  descends 
as  out  of  a  blast-furnace  from  overhead.  To  the 
southeast  is  a  mass  of  dull  black  clouds.  Their  face 
is  unbroken.  But  the  upper  edges  are  ragged,  torn 
by  a  wind  not  yet  felt  below.  Two  hours  later  its 
warmth  comes.  In  ten  minutes  the  mercury  goes  up 
thirty-five  degrees.  The  wind  comes  at  a  thirty- 
mile  velocity.  It  increases  in  strength  and  warmth, 
blowing  with  a  mighty  roar. 

Twelve  hours  afterward  the  snow,  three  feet  deep 
on  a  level,  has  melted.  There  are  bald,  brown  hills 
everywhere  to  the  horizon,  and  the  plains  are  flooded 
with  water.  The  Chinook  has  come  and  gone.  In 
this  manner  suddenly  went  the  Bines  fortune. 

April  3Oth,  Consolidated  Copper  closed  at  91. 
Two  days  later,  May  2d,  the  same  ill-fated  stock 
closed  at  51  —  a  drop  of  forty  points.  Roughly  the 
decline  meant  the  loss  of  a  hundred  million  dollars 
to  the  fifteen  thousand  share-holders.  From  every 
city  of  importance  in  the  country  came  tales  more 
or  less  tragic  of  holdings  wiped  out,  of  ruined  fam 
ilies,  of  defalcations  and  suicides.  The  losses  in 
New  York  City  alone  were  said  to  be  fifty  millions. 
A  few  large  holders,  reputed  to  enjoy  inside  in 
formation,  were  said  to  have  put  their  stock  aside 
and  "  sold  short  "  in  the  knowledge  of  what  was 
coming.  Such  tales  are  always  popular  in  the 
Street. 

Others  not  less  popular  had  to  do  with  the  reasons 


406  THE    SPENDERS 

for  the  slump.  Many  were  plausible.  A  deal  with 
the  Rothschilds  for  control  of  the  Spanish  mines 
had  fallen  through.  Or,  again,  the  slaughter  was 
due  to  the  Shepler  group  of  Federal  Oil  operators, 
who  were  bent  on  forcing  some  one  to  unload  a  great 
quantity  of  the  stock  so  that  they  might  absorb  it. 
The  immediate  causes  were  less  recondite.  The 
Consolidated  Company,  so  far  from  controlling  the 
output,  was  suddenly  shown  to  control  actually  less 
than  fifty  per  cent  of  it.  its  efforts  to  amend  or 
repeal  the  hardy  old  law  of  Supply  and  Demand 
had  simply  met  with  the  indifferent  success  that  has 
marked  all  such  efforts  since  the  first  attempted 
corner  in  stone  hatchets,  or  mastodon  tusks,  or 
whatever  it  may  have  been.  In  the  language  of  one 
of  its  newspaper  critics,  the  "  Trust "  had  been 
"  founded  on  misconception  and  prompted  along 
lines  of  self-destruction.  Its  fundamental  principles 
were  the  restriction  of  product,  the  increase  of  price, 
and  the  throttling  of  competition,  a  trinity  that 
would  wreck  any  combination,  business,  political,  or 
social." 

With  this  generalisation  we  have  no  concern.  As 
to  the  copper  situation,  the  comment  was  pat.  It 
had  been  suddenly  disclosed,  not  only  that  no  com 
bination  could  be  made  to  include  the  European 
mines,  but  that  the  Consolidated  Company  had  an 
unsold  surplus  of  150,000,000  pounds  of  copper; 
that  it  was  producing  20,000,000  pounds  a  month 
more  than  could  be  sold,  and  that  it  had  made  large 
secret  sales  abroad  at  from  two  to  three  cents  below 
the  market  price. 


THE    SPENDERS  407 

As  if  fearing  that  these  adverse  conditions  did  not 
sufficiently  ensure  the  stock's  downfall,  the  Shepler 
group  of  Federal  Oil  operators  beat  it  down  further 
with  what  was  veritably  a  golden  sledge.  That  is, 
they  exported  gold  at  a  loss.  At  a  time  when  obliga 
tions  could  have  been  met  more  cheaply  with  bought 
bills  they  sent  out  many  golden  cargoes  at  an  actual 
loss  of  three  hundred  dollars  on  the  half  million. 
As  money  was  already  dear,  and  thus  became 
dearer,  the  temptation  and  the  means  to  hold  copper 
stock,  in  spite  of  all  discouragements,  were  removed 
from  the  paths  of  hundreds  of  the  harried  holders. 

Incidentally,  Western  Trolley  had  gone  into  the 
hands  of  a  receiver,  a  failure  involving  another  hun 
dred  million  dollars,  and  Union  Cordage  had  fallen 
thirty-five  points  through  sensational  disclosures  as 
to  its  overcapitalisation. 

Into  this  maelstrom  of  a  panic  market  the  Bines 
fortune  had  been  sucked  with  a  swiftness  so  terri 
ble  that  the  family's  chief  advising  member  was  left 
dazed  and  incredulous. 

For  two  days  he  clung  to  the  ticker  tape  as 
to  a  life  line.  He  had  committed  the  millions  of 
the  family  as  lightly  as  ever  he  had  staked  a  hundred 
dollars  on  the  turn  of  a  card  or  left  ten  on  the 
change-tray  for  his  waiter. 

Then  he  had  seen  his  cunningly  built  foundations, 
rested  upon  with  hopes  so  high  for  three  months, 
melt  away  like  snow  when  the  blistering  Chinook 
comes. 

It  has  been  thought  wise  to  adopt  two  somewhat 


408  THE    SPENDERS 

differing  similes  in  the  foregoing,  in  order  that  the 
direness  of  the  tragedy  may  be  sufficiently  appre 
hended. 

The  morning  of  the  first  of  the  two  last  awful 
days,  he  was  called  to  the  office  of  Fonts  and 
Hendricks  by  telephone. 

"  Something  going  to  happen  in  Consolidated 
to-day." 

He  had  hurried  down-town,  flushed  with  confi 
dence.  He  knew  there  was  but  one  thing  could 
happen.  He  had  reached  the  office  at  ten  and  heard 
the  first  vicious  little  click  of  the  ticker  —  that  beat 
ing  heart  of  the  Stock  Exchange  —  as  it  began  the 
unemotional  story  of  what  men  bought  and  sold  over 
on  the  floor.  Its  inventor  died  in  the  poorhouse, 
but  Capital  would  fare  badly  without  his  machine. 
Consolidated  was  down  three  points.  The  crowd 
about  the  ticker  grew  absorbed  at  once.  Reports 
came  in  over  the  telephone.  The  bears  had  made  a 
set  for  the  stock.  It  began  to  slump  rapidly.  As 
the  stock  was  goaded  down,  point  by  point,  the 
crowd  of  traders  waxed  more  excited. 

As  the  stock  fell,  the  banks  requested  the  brokers 
to  margin  up  their  loans,  and  the  brokers,  in  turn, 
requested  Percival  to  margin  up  his  trades.  The 
shares  he  had  bought  outright  went  to  cover  the 
shortage  in  those  he  had  bought  on  a  twenty  per 
cent  margin.  Loans  were  called  later,  and  marginal 
accounts  wiped  out  with  appalling  informality. 

Yet  when  Consolidated  suddenly  rallied  three 
points  just  at  the  close  of  the  day's  trading,  he  took 


THE    SPENDERS  409 

much  comfort  in  it  as  an  omen  of  the  morrow. 
That  night,  however,  he  took  but  little  satisfaction 
in  Uncle  Peter's  renewed  assurances  of  trust  in  his 
acumen.  Uncle  Peter,  he  decided  all  at  once,  was 
a  fatuous,  doddering  old  man,  unable  to  realise  that 
the  whole  fortune  was  gravely  endangered.  And 
with  the  gambler's  inveterate  hope  that  luck  must 
change  he  forbore  to  undeceive  the  old  man. 

Uncle  Peter  went  with  him  to  the  office  next 
morning,  serenely  interested  in  the  prospects. 

"  You  got  your  pa's  way  of  taking  hold  of  big 
propositions.  That's  all  I  need  to  know,"  he 
reassured  the  young  man,  cheerfully. 

Consolidated  Copper  opened  that  day  at  78,  and 
went  by  two  o'clock  to  51. 

Percival  watched  the  decline  with  a  conviction 
that  he  was  dreaming.  He  laughed  to  think  of  his 
relief  when  he  should  awaken.  The  crowd  surged 
about  the  ticker,  and  their  voices  came  as  from 
afar.  Their  acts  all  had  the  weird  inconsequence 
of  the  people  we  see  in  dreams.  Yet  presently  it 
had  gone  too  far  to  be  amusing.  He  must  arouse 
himself  and  turn  over  on  his  side.  In  five  minutes, 
according  to  the  dream,  he  had  lost  five  million 
dollars  as  nearly  as  he  could  calculate.  Losing  a 
million  a  minute,  even  in  sleep,  he  thought,  was 
disquieting. 

Then  upon  the  tape  he  read  another  chapter  of 
disaster.  Western  Trolley  had  gone  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver,  —  a  fine,  fat,  promising  stock  ruined 
without  a  word  of  warning;  and  while  he  tried  to 


410  THE    SPENDERS 

master  this  news  the  horrible  clicking  thing  declared 
that  Union  Cordage  was  selling  down  to  58,  —  a 
drop  of  exactly  35  points  since  morning. 

Fonts,  with  a  slip  of  paper  in  his  hand,  beckoned 
him  from  the  door  of  his  private  office.  He  went 
dazedly  in  to  him,  —  and  was  awakened  from  the 
dream  that  he  had  been  losing  a  fortune  in  his 
sleep. 

Coming  out  after  a  few  moments,  he  went  up  to 
Uncle  Peter,  who  had  been  sitting,  watchful  but 
unconcerned,  in  one  of  the  armchairs  along  the  wall. 
The  old  man  looked  up  inquiringly. 

"  Come  inside,  Uncle  Peter!  " 

They  went  into  the  private  office  of  Fouts.  Per- 
cival  shut  the  door,  and  they  were  alone. 

"  Uncle  Peter,  Burman's  been  suspended  on  the 
Board  of  Trade;  Fouts  just  had  this  over  his 
private  wire.  Corn  broke  to-day." 

"That  so?  Oh,  well,  maybe  it  was  worth  a 
couple  of  million  to  find  out  Burman  plays  corn  like 
he  plays  poker ;  'twas  if  you  couldn't  get  it  fur  any 
less." 

"  Uncle  Peter,  we're  wiped  out." 

"How,  wiped  out?     What  do  you  mean,  son?" 

"  We're   done,   I   tell   you.      We  needn't   care   a 
damn  now  where  copper  goes  to.     We're  out  of  it 
—  and  —  Uncle  Peter,  we're  broke." 

"Out   of   copper?     Broke?      But  you   said  - 
He  seemed  to  be  making  an  effort  to  comprehend. 
His  lack  of  grasp  was  pitiful. 

"  Out  of  copper,  but  there's  Western  Trolley  and 
that  Cordage  stock  - 


THE    SPENDERS  411 

"  Everything  wiped  out,  I  tell  you  —  Union 
Cordage  gone  down  thirty-five  points,  somebody  let 
out  the  inside  secrets  —  and  God  only  knows  how 
far  Western  Trolley's  gone  down." 

"  Are  you  all  in?  " 

"  Every  dollar  —  you  knew  that.  But  say,"  he 
brightened  out  of  his  despair,  "  there's  the  One 
Girl  —  a  good  producer  —  Shepler  knows  the 
property  —  Shepler's  in  this  block  -  "  and  he  was 
gone. 

The  old  man  strolled  out  into  the  trading-room 
again.  A  curious  grim  smile  softened  his  square 
jaw  for  a  moment.  He  resumed  his  comfortable 
chair  and  took  up  a  newspaper,  glancing  inciden 
tally  at  the  crowd  of  excited  men  about  the  tickers. 
He  had  about  him  that  air  of  repose  which  comes 
to  big  men  who  have  stayed  much  in  big  out-of-door 
solitudes. 

"  Ain't  he  a  nervy  old  guy?"  said  a  crisp  little 
money-broker  to  Fonts.  "  They're  wiped  out,  but 
you  wouldn't  think  he  cared  any  more  about  it  than 
Mike  the  porter  with  his  brass  polish  out  there." 

The  old  man  held  his  paper  up,  but  did  not  read. 

Percival  rushed  in  by  him,  beckoning  him  to  the 
inner  room. 

"  Shepler's  all  right  about  the  One  Girl.  He'll 
take  a  mortgage  on  it  for  two  hundred  thousand 
if  you'll  recommend  it  —  only  he  can't  get  the 
money  before  to-morrow.  There's  bound  to  be  a 
rally  in  this  stock,  and  we'll  go  right  back  for  some 
of  the  hair  of  the  —  why,  —  what's  the  matter  — 
Unc4e  Peter!  " 


412  THE    SPENDERS 

The  old  man  had  reeled,  and  then  weakly  caught 
at  the  top  of  the  desk  with  both  hands  for  support. 

"  Ruined!  "  he  cried,  hoarsely,  as  if  the  extent  of 
the  calamity  had  just  borne  in  upon  him.  "  My 
God !  Ruined,  and  at  my  time  of  life !  "  He  seemed 
about  to  collapse.  Percival  quickly  helped  him  into 
a  chair,  where  he  became  limp. 

"There,  I'm  all  right.     Oh,  it's  terrible!   and  we 

all  trusted  you  so.     I  thought  you  had  your  pa's 

brains.     I'd  'a'  trusted  you  soon's  I  would  Shepler, 

and  now  look  what  you  led  us  into  —  fortune  gone 

-  broke  —  and  all  your  fault !  " 

"  Don't,  Uncle  Peter  —  don't,  for  God's  sake  — 
not  when  I'm  down!  I  can't  stand  it!  " 

"  Gamble  away  your  own  money  —  no,  that 
wa'n't  enough  —  take  your  poor  ma's  share  and 
your  sister's,  and  take  what  little  I  had  to  keep  me 
in  my  old  age  —  robbed  us  all  —  that's  what  comes 
of  thinkin'  a  damned  tea-drinkin'  fop  could  have  a 
thimble-full  of  brains !  " 

"  Don't,  please,  —  not  just  now  —  give  it  to  me 
good  later  —  to-morrow  —  all  you  want  to!  " 

"  And  here  I'm  come  to  want  in  my  last  days 
when  I'm  too  feeble  to  \vork.  I'll  die  in  bitter  pri 
vation  because  I  was  an  old  fool,  and  trusted  a 
young  one." 

"  Please  don't,  Uncle  Peter !  " 

"  You  led  us  in  —  robbed  your  poor  ma  and  your 
sister.  I  told  you  I  didn't  know  anything  about 
it  and  you  talked  me  into  trusting  you  —  I  might 
'a'  known  better." 


THE    SPENDERS  413 

"  Can't  you  stop  awhile  —  just  a  moment?  " 

"  Of  course  I  don't  matter.  Maybe  I  can  hold  a 
drill,  or  tram  ore,  or  something,  but  I  can't  support 
your  ma  and  Fishy  like  they  ought  to  be,  with  my 
rheumatiz  comin'  on  again,  too.  And  your  ma'll 
have  to  take  in  boarders,  and  do  washin'  like  as  not, 
and  think  of  poor  Pishy  —  prob'ly  she'll  have  to 
teach  school  or  clerk  in  a  store  —  poor  Pish  —  she'll 
be  lucky  now  if  she  can  marry  some  common  scrub 
American  out  in  them  hills  —  like  as  not  one  of 
them  shoe-clerks  in  the  Boston  Cash  Store  at  Mon 
tana  City !  And  jest  when  I  was  lookin'  forward 
to  luxury  and  palaces  in  England,  and  everything 
so  grand !  How  much  you  lost?  " 

"  That's  right,  no  use  whining !  Nearly  as  I  can 
get  the  round  figures  of  it,  about  twelve  million." 

"  Awful  —  awful !  By  Cripes !  that  man  Blythe 
that  done  himself  up  the  other  night  had  the  right 
of  it.  What's  the  use  of  living  if  you  got  to  go  to 
the  poorhouse  ?  " 

"  Come,  come !  "  said  Percival,  alarm  over  Uncle 
Peter  crowding  out  his  other  emotions.  "  Be  a 
game  loser,  just  as  you  said  pa  would  be.  Sit  up 
straight  and  make  'em  bring  on  another  deck." 

He  slapped  the  old  man  on  the  back  with  sim 
ulated  cheerfulness ;  but  the  despairing  one  only 
cowered  weakly  under  the  blow. 

"  We  can't  —  we  ain't  got  the  stake  for  a  new 
deck.  Oh,  dear!  think  of  your  ma  and  me  not 
knowin'  where  to  turn  fur  a  meal  of  victuals  at  our 
time  of  life." 


4i 4  THE    SPENDERS 

Percival  was  being  forced  to  cheerfulness  in  spite 
of  himself. 

"  Come,  it  isn't  as  bad  as  that,  Uncle  Peter. 
We've  got  properties  left,  and  good  ones,  too." 

Uncle  Peter  weakly  waved  the  hand  of  finished 
discouragement.  "  Hush,  don't  speak  of  that. 
Them  properties  need  a  manager  to  make  'em  pay 
—  a  plain  business  man  —  a  man  to  stay  on  the 
ground  and  watch  'em  and  develop  'em  with  his 
brains  —  a  young  man  with  his  health !  What 
good  am  I  —  a  poor,  broken-down  old  cuss,  bent 
double  with  rhetimatiz  —  almost  —  I'm  ashamed 
of  you  fur  suggesting  such  a  thing !  " 

"  I'll  do  it  myself  —  I  never  thought  of  asking 
you." 

Uncle  Peter  emitted  a  nasal  gasp  of  disgust. 

"  You  —  you  —  you'd  make  a  purty  manager 
of  anything,  wouldn't  you !  As  if  you  could  be 
trusted  with  anything  again  that  needs  a  schoolboy's 
intelligence.  Even  if  you  had  the  brains,  you  ain't 
got  the  taste  nor  the  sperrit  in  you.  You're  too 
lazy  —  too  triflin'.  You,  a-goin'  back  there,  devel- 
opin'  mines,  and  gettin'  out  ties,  and  lumber,  and 
breeding  shorthorns,  and  improvin'  some  of  the 
finest  land  God  ever  made  —  you  bein'  sober  and 
industrious,  and  smart,  like  a  business  man  has  got 
to  be  out  there  nowadays.  That  ain't  any  bonanza 
country  any  more;  1901  ain't  like  1870;  don't  fig 
ure  on  that.  You  got  to  work  the  low-grade  ore 
now  for  a  few  dollars  a  ton,  and  you  got  to  work 
it  with  brains.  No,  sir,  that  country  ain't  what  it 


THE    SPENDERS  415 

used  to  be.  There  might  'a'  been  a  time  when  you'd 
made  your  board  and  clothes  out  there  when  things 
come  easier.  Now  it's  full  of  men  that  hustle  and 
keep  their  mind  on  their  work,  and  ain't  runnin' 
off  to  pink  teas  in  New  York.  It  takes  a  man  with 
some  of  the  brains  your  pa  had  to  make  the  game 
pay  now.  But  you  —  don't  let  me  hear  any  more 
of  that  nonsense !  " 

Percival  had  entered  the  room  pale.  He  was 
now  red.  The  old  man's  bitter  contempt  had  flushed 
him  into  momentary  forgetfulness  of  the  disaster. 

"  Look  here,  Uncle  Peter,  you've  been  telling  me 
right  along  I  did  have  my  father's  head  and  my 
father's  ways  and  his  nerve,  and  God  knows  what 
I  didn't  have  that  he  had !  " 

"  I  was  fooled,  —  I  can't  deny  it.  What's  the 
use  of  tryin'  to  crawl  out  of  it?  You  did  fool  me, 
and  I  own  up  to  it;  I  thought  you  had  some  sense, 
some  capacity;  but  you  was  only  like  him  on  the 
surface;  you  jest  got  one  or  two  little  ways  like 
his,  that's  all  —  Dan'l  J.  now  was  good  stuff  all  the 
way  through.  He  might  V  guessed  wrong  on  cop 
per,  but  he'd  'a'  saved  a  get-away  stake  or  borrowed 
one,  and  he'd  'a'  piked  back  fur  Montana  to  make 
his  pile  right  over  —  and  he'd  'a'  made  it,  too  — 
that  was  the  kind  of  man  your  pa  was  —  he'd  'a' 
made  it ! " 

"  I  have  saved  a  get-away  stake." 

"  Your  pa  had  the  head,  I  tell  you  —  and  the 
spirit  - 

"  And,  by  God,  I'll  show  you  I've  got  the  head. 


416  THE    SPENDERS 

You  think  because  I  wanted  to  live  here,  and  because 
1  made  this  wrong  play  that  I'm  like  all  these  pin- 
heads  you've  seen  around  here.  I'll  show  you 
different !  —  I'll  fool  you." 

"  Now  don't  explode!  "  said  the  old  man,  wearily. 
"  You  meant  well,  poor  fellow  —  I'll  say  that  fur 
you;  you  got  a  good  heart.  But  there's  lots  of 
good  men  that  ain't  good  fur  anything  in  particular.. 
You've  got  a  good  heart  —  yes  —  you're  all  right 
from  the  neck  down." 

"  See  here,"  said  Percival,  more  calmly,  "  listen : 
I've  got  you  all  into  this  thing,  and  played  you 
broke  against  copper;  and  I'm  going  to  get  you 
out  —  understand  that  ?  " 

The  old  man  looked  at  him  pityingly. 

"  I  tell  you  I'm  going  to  get  you  out.  I'm  going 
back  there,  and  get  things  in  action,  and  I'm  going 
to  stay  by  them.  I've  got  a  good  idea  of  these  prop 
erties  —  and  you  hear  me,  now  —  I'll  finish  with 
a  bank-roll  that'll  choke  Red  Bank  Canon." 

Fonts  knocked  and  came  in. 

"  Now  you  go  along  up-town.  Uncle  Peter.  I 
want  a  few  minutes  with  Mr.  Fouts,  and  I'll  come  to 
your  place  at  seven." 

The  old  man  arose  dejectedly. 

"  Don't  let  me  interfere  a  minute  with  your  finan 
cial  operations.  I'm  too  old  a  man  to  be  around 
in  folks'  way." 

He  slouched  out  with  his  head  bent. 

A  moment  later  Percival  remembered  his  last 
words,  also  his  reference  to  Blythe.  He  was  seized 


THE    SPENDERS  417 

with  fear  for  what  he  might  do  in  his  despair. 
Uncle  Peter  would  act  quickly  if  his  mind  had 
heen  made  up. 

He  ran  out  into  Wall  Street,  and  hurried  up  to 
Broadway.  A  block  off  on  that  crowded  thorough 
fare  he  saw  the  tall  figure  of  Uncle  Peter  turning 
into  the  door  of  a  saloon.  He  might  have  bought 
poison.  He  ran  the  length  of  the  block  and 
turned  in. 

Uncle  Peter  stood  at  one  end  of  the  bar  with  a 
glass  of  creamy  beer  in  front  of  him.  At  the  mo 
ment  Percival  entered  he  was  enclosing  a  large  slab 
of  Swiss  cheese  between  two  slices  of  rye  bread. 

He  turned  and  faced  Percival,  looking  from  him 
to  his  sandwich  with  vacant  eyes. 

"  I'm  that  wrought  up  and  distressed,  son,  I 
hardly  know  what  I'm  doin' !  Look  at  me  now  with 
this  stuff  in  my  hands." 

"  I  just  wanted  to  be  sure  you  were  all  right," 
said  Percival,  greatly  relieved. 

"  All  right,"  the  old  man  repeated.  "  All  right? 
My  God,  —  ruined !  There's  nothin'  left  to  do 
now." 

He  looked  absently  at  the  sandwich,  and  bit  a 
generous  semicircle  into  it. 

"  I  don't  see  how  you  can  eat,  Uncle  Peter.  It's 
so  horrible !  " 

"  I  don't  myself ;    it  ain't  a  healthy  appetite  — 

can't  be  —  must  be  some  kind  of  a  fever  inside  of  me 

-  I  s'pose  —  from  all  this  trouble.     And  now  I've 

come  to  poverty  and  want  in  my  old  age.    Say,  son, 


418  THE    SPENDERS 

I  believe  there's  jest  one  thing  you  can  do  to  keep 
me  from  goin'  crazy." 

"  Name  it,  Uncle  Peter.  You  bet  I'll  do  it!  " 
"  Well,  it  ain't  much  —  of  course  I  wouldn't  ex 
pect  you  to  do  all  them  things  you  was  jest  braggin' 
about  back  there  —  about  goin'  to  work  the  prop 
erties  and  all  that  —  you  would  do  it  if  you  could, 
I  know  —  but  it  ain't  that.  All  I  ask  is,  don't  play 
this  Wall  Street  game  any  more.  If  we  can  save 
out  enough  by  good  luck  to  keep  us  decently,  so 
your  ma  won't  have  to  take  boarders,  why,  don't  you 
go  and  lose  that,  too.  Don't  mortgage  the  One  Girl. 
I  may  be  sort  of  superstitious,  but  somehow,  I  don't 
believe  Wall  Street  is  your  game.  Course,  I  don't 
say  you  ain't  got  a  game  —  of  some  kind  —  but  I 
got  one  of  them  presentiments  that  it  ain't  Wall 
Street." 

"  I  don't  believe  it  is.  Uncle  Peter  —  I  won't 
touch  another  share,  and  I  won't  go  near  Shepler 
again.  We'll  keep  the  One  Girl." 

He  called  a  cab  for  the  old  man,  and  saw  him 
started  safely  off  up-town. 

At  the  hotel  Uncle  Peter  met  Billy  Brue  flourish 
ing  an  evening  paper  that  flared  with  exclamatory 
headlines. 

"  It's  all  in  the  papers,  Uncle  Peter !  " 
"  Dead  broke!    Ain't  it  awful,  Billy!  " 
"  Say,  Uncle  Peter,  you  said  you'd  raise  hell,  and 
you  done  it.    You  done  it  good,  didn't  you  ?  " 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

TJie  News  Broken,    Whereupon  an  Engagement  is 
Broken 

AT  seven   Percival   found   Uncle   Peter  at  his 
hotel,  still  in  abysmal  depths  of  woe.     To 
gether  they  went  to  break  the  awful  news  to 
the  unsuspecting  Mrs.  Bines  and  Psyche. 

"  If  you'd  only  learned  something  useful  while 
you  had  the  chance,"  began  Uncle  Peter,  dismally, 
as  they  were  driven  to  the  Hightower,  "  how  to  do 
tricks  with  cards,  or  how  to  sing  funny  songs,  like 
that  little  friend  of  yours  from  Baltimore  you  was 
tellin'  me  about.  Look  at  him,  now.  He  didn't 
have  anything  but  his  own  ability.  He  could  tell 
you  every  time  what  card  you  was  thinkin'  about, 
and  do  a  skirt  dance  and  give  comic  recitations  and 
imitate  a  dog  fight  out  in  the  back  yard,  and  now  he's 
married  to  one  of  the  richest  ladies  in  New  York. 
Why  couldn't  you  'a'  been  learnin'  some  of  them 
clever  things,  so  you  could  'a'  married  some  good- 
hearted  woman  with  lots  of  money  —  but  no  — 
Uncle  Peter's  tones  were  bitter  to  excess — "you  was 
a  rich  man's  son  and  raised  in  idleness  —  and  now, 
when  the  rainy  day's  come,  you  can't  even  take  a 
white  rabbit  out  of  a  stove-pipe  hat!  " 

419 


420  THE    SPENDERS 

To  these  senile  maunderings  Percival  paid  no 
attention.  When  they  came  into  the  crowd  and 
lights  of  the  Hightower,  he  sent  the  old  man  up 
alone. 

"  You  go,  please,  and  break  it  to  them,  Uncle 
Peter.  I'd  rather  not  be  there  just  at  first.  I'll 
come  along  in  a  little  bit." 

So  Uncle  Peter  went,  protesting  that  he  was  a 
broken  old  man  and  a  cumberer  of  God's  green 
earth. 

Mrs.  Bines  and  Psyche  had  that  moment  sat  down 
to  dinner.  Uncle  Peter's  manner  at  once  alarmed 
them. 

"  It's  all  over,"  he  said,  sinking  into  a  chair. 

"  Why,  what's  the  matter,  Uncle  Peter  ?  " 

"  Percival  has  - 

Mrs.  Bines  arose  quickly,  trembling. 

"  There  —  I  just  knew  it  —  it's  all  over  ?  —  he's 
been  struck  by  one  of  those  terrible  automobiles  — 
Oh,  take  me  to  where  he  is !  " 

"  He  ain't  been  run  over  —  he's  gone  broke — lost 
all  our  money;  every  last  cent." 

"  He  hasn't  been  run  over  and  killed?  " 

"  He's  ruined  us,  I  tell  you,  Marthy,  —  lost 
every  cent  of  our  money  in  Wall  Street." 

"  Hasn't  he  been  hurt  at  all  ?  —  not  even  his  leg 
broke  or  a  big  gash  in  his  head  and  knocked 
senseless?  " 

'  That  boy  never  had  any  sense.  I  tell  you  he's 
lost  all  our  money." 

"  And  he  ain't  a  bit  hurt  —  nothing  the  matter 
with  him?" 


THE    SPENDERS  421 

"  Ain't  any  more  hurt  than  you  or  me  this 
minute." 

"  You're  not  fooling  his  mother,  Uncle  Peter?  " 

"  I  tell  you  he's  alive  and  well,  only  he's  lost  your 
money  and  Fish's  and  mine  and  his  own." 

Mrs.  Bines  breathed  a  long,  trembling  sigh  of 
relief,  and  sat  down  to  the  table  again. 

"  Well,  no  need  to  scare  a  body  out  of  their  wits 
—  scaring   his    mother    to    death    won't   bring   his 
money  back,  will  it?    If  it's  gone  it's  gone." 

"  But  ma,  it  is  awful !  "  cried  Psyche.  "  Listen  to 
what  Uncle  Peter  says.  We're  poor!  Don't  you 
understand?  Perce  has  lost  all  our  money." 

Mrs.  Bines  was  eating  her  soup  defiantly. 

"  Long's  he's  got  his  health,"  she  began. 

"  And  me  windin'  up  in  the  poorhouse,"  whined 
Uncle  Peter. 

"  Think  of  it,  ma !    Oh,  what  shall  we  do?  " 

Percival  entered.  Uncle  Peter  did  not  raise  his 
head.  Psyche  stared  at  him.  His  mother  ran  to 
him,  satisfied  herself  that  he  was  sound  in  wind 
and  limb,  that  he  had  not  treacherously  donned  his 
summer  underwear,  and  that  his  feet  were  not  wet. 
Then  she  led  him  to  the  table. 

"  Now  you  sit  right  down  here  and  take  some 
food.  If  you're  all  right,  everything  is  all  right." 

With  a  weak  attempt  at  his  old  gaiety  he  began : 

"  Really,  Mrs.  Crackenthorpe  —  "  but  he  caught 
Psyche's  look  and  had  to  stop. 

"  I'm  sorry,  sis,  clear  into  my  bones.  I  made  an 
ass  of  myself  —  a  regular  fool  right  from  the 
factory." 


422  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Never  mind,  my  son;  eat  your  soup,"  said  his 
mother.  And  then,  with  honest  intent  to  comfort 
him,  "  Remember  that  saying  of  your  pa's,  '  it  takes 
all  kinds  of  fools  to  make  a  world/  ' 

"  But  there  ain't  any  fool  like  a  damn  fool !  "  said 
Uncle  Peter,  shortly.  "  I  been  a-tellin'  him." 

"Well,  you  just  let  him  alone;  you'll  spoil  his 
appetite,  first  thing  you  know.  My  son,  eat  your 
soup,  now  before  it  gets  cold." 

"  If  I  only  hadn't  gone  in  so  heavy,"  groaned  Per- 
cival.  "  Or,  if  I'd  only  got  tied  up  in  some  way 
for  a  few  weeks  —  something  I  could  tide  over." 

"  Yes,"  said  Uncle  Peter,  with  a  cheerful  effort 
at  sarcasm,  "  it's  always  easy  to  think  up  a  lot  of 
holes  you  could  get  out  of  —  some  different  kind  of 
a  hole  besides  the  one  you're  in.  That's  all  some 
folks  can  do  when  they  get  in  one  hole,  they  say, 
'  Oh,  if  I  was  only  in  that  other  one,  now,  how 
slick  I  could  climb  out !  '  I  ain't  ever  met  a  person 
yet  was  satisfied  with  the  hole  they  was  in.  Always 
some  complaint  to  make  about  'em." 

"  And  I  had  .a  chance  to  get  out  a  week  ago." 

"  Yes,  and  you  wouldn't  take  it,  of  course  —  you 
knew  too  much  —  swellin'  around  here  about  bein' 
a  Napoleon  of  finance  —  and  a  Shepler  and  a 
Wizard  of  Wall  Street,  and  all  that  kind  of  guff  - 
and  you  wouldn't  take  your  chance,  and  old  Mr. 
Chance  went  right  off  and  left  you,  that's  what.  I 
tell  you,  what  some  folks  need  is  a  breed  of  chances 
that'll  stand  without  hitchin'." 

Percival  braced  himself  and  began  on  his  soup. 


THE    SPENDERS  423 

"  Never  you  mind,  Uncle  Peter.  You  remember 
what  I  told  you." 

"  That  takes  a  different  man  from  what  you  are. 
If  your  pa  was  alive  now  - 

"  But  what  are  we  going  to  do?  "  cried  Psyche. 

"  First  thing  you'll  do/'  said  Uncle  Peter, 
promptly,  "  you  go  write  a  letter  to  that  beau  of 
your'n,  tellin'  him  it's  all  off.  You  don't  want  to  let 
him  be  the  one  to  break  it  because  you  lost  your 
money,  do  you  ?  You  go  sign  his  release  right  this 
minute." 

"  Yes  —  you're  right,  Uncle  Peter  —  I  suppose 
it  must  be  done  —  but  the  poor  fellow  really  cares 
for  me." 

"  Oh,  of  course,"  answered  the  old  man,  "  it'll 
fairly  break  his  heart.  You  do  it  just  the  same!  " 

She  withdrew,  and  presently  came  back  with  a 
note  which  she  despatched  to  Mauburn. 

Percival  and  his  mother  had  continued  their 
dinner,  the  former  shaking  his  head  between  the 
intervals  of  the  old  man's  lashings,  and  appearing 
to  hold  silent  converse  with  himself. 

This  was  an  encouraging  sign.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  people  never  talk  to  themselves  except 
triumphantly.  In  moments  of  real  despair  we  are 
inwardly  dumb.  But  observe  the  holders  of  imag 
inary  conversations.  They  are  conquerors  to  the 
last  one.  They  administer  stinging  rebukes  that 
leave  the  adversary  writhing.  They  rise  to  Alpine 
heights  of  pure  wisdom  and  power,  leaving  him  to 
flounder  ignobly  in  the  mire  of  his  own  fatuity. 


424  THE    SPENDERS 

They  achieve  repartee  the  brilliance  of  which  daz 
zles  him  to  contemptible  silence.  If  statistics  were 
at  hand  we  should  doubtless  learn  that  no  man  has 
ever  talked  to  himself  save  by  way  of  demonstrat 
ing  his  own  godlike  superiority,  and  the  tawdry 
impotence  of  all  obstacles  and  opponents.  Percival 
talked  to  himself  and  mentally  lived  the  next  five 
years  in  a  style  that  reduced  Uncle  Peter  to  grudg 
ing  but  imperative  awe  for  his  superb  gifts  of 
administration.  He  bathed  in  this  imaginary  future 
as  in  the  waters  of  omnipotence.  As  time  went  on 
he  foresaw  the  shafts  of  Uncle  Peter  being  turned 
back  upon  him  with  such  deadliness  that,  by  the 
time  the  roast  came,  his  breast  wfas  swelling  with 
pity  for  that  senile  scoffer. 

Uncle  Peter  had  first  declared  that  the  thought 
of  food  sickened  him.  Prevailed  upon  at  last  by 
Mrs.  Bines  to  taste  the  soup,  he  was  soon  eating 
as  those  present  had  of  late  rarely  seen  him  eat. 

'Tain't  a  natural  appetite,  though,"  he  warned 
them.  "  It's  a  kind  of  a  mania  before  I  go  all  to 
pieces.  I  s'pose." 

"  Nonsense!  We'll  have  you  all  right  in  a  week," 
said  Percival.  "  Just  remember  that  I'm  going  to 
take  care  of  you." 

"  My  son  can  do  anything  he  makes  up  his  mind 
to,"  declared  Mrs.  Bines  —  "just  anything  he  lays 
out  to  do." 

They  talked  until  late  into  the  night  of  what  he 
should  "  lay  out  "  to  do. 

Meantime  the  stronghold  of  Mauburn's  optimism 
was  being  desperately  stormed. 


THE    SPENDERS  425 

In  an  evening  paper  he  had  read  of  Percival's 
losses.  The  afternoon  press  of  New  York  is  not 
apt  to  understate  the  facts  of  a  given  case.  The 
account  Mauburn  read  stated  that  the  young 
Western  millionaire  had  beggared  his  family. 

Mauburn  had  gone  to  his  room  to  be  alone  with 
this  bitter  news.  He  had  begun  to  face  it  when 
Psyche's  note  of  release  came.  While  he  was  ad 
justing  this  development,  another  knock  came  on  his 
door.  It  was  the  same  maid  who  had  brought 
Psyche's  note.  This  time  she  brought  what  he  saw 
to  be  a  cablegram. 

"  Excuse  me,  Mr.  Mauburn,  —  now  this  came 
early  to-day  and  you  wasn't  in  your  room,  and 
when  you  came  in  Mrs.  Ferguson  forgot  it  till  just 
now." 

He  tore  open  the  envelope  and  read : 

"  Male  twins  born  to  Lady  Casselthorpe.  Mother 
and  sons  doing  finely. 

"  HlNKIE." 

Mauburn  felt  the  rock  foundations  of  Manhattan 
Island  to  be  crumbling  to  dust.  For  an  hour  he 
sat  staring  at  the  message.  He  did  not  talk  to 
himself  once. 

Then  he  hurriedly  dressed,  took  the  note  and  the 
cablegram,  and  sought  Mrs.  Drelmer. 

He  found  that  capable  lady  gowned  for  the  opera. 
She  received  his  bits  of  news  with  the  aplomb  of 
a  resourceful  commander. 


426  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Now,  don't  go  seedy  all  at  once  —  you've  a 
chance." 

"  Hang  it  all,  Mrs.  Drelmer,  I've  not.  Life  isn't 
worth  living  — 

"Tut,  tut!     Death  isn't,  either!" 

"  But  we'd  have  been  so  nicely  set  up,  even 
without  the  title,  and  now  Bines,  the  clumsy  ass, 
has  come  this  infernal  cropper,  and  knocked  every 
thing  on  the  head.  I  say,  you  know,  it's  beastly !  " 

"  Hush,  and  let  me  think !  " 

He  paced  the  floor  while  his  matrimonial  adviser 
tapped  a  white  kidded  foot  on  the  floor,  and 
appeared  to  read  plans  of  new  battle  in  a  mother- 
of-pearl  paper-knife  which  she  held  between  the  tips 
of  her  fingers. 

"  I  have  it  —  and  we'll  do  it  quickly !  —  Mrs. 
Wybert!" 

Mauburn's  eyes  opened  widely. 

"  That  absurd  old  Peter  Bines  has  spoken  to  me 
of  her  three  times  lately.  She's  made  a  lot  more 
money  than  she  had  in  this  same  copper  deal,  and 
she'd  a  lot  to  begin  with.  I  wondered  why  he  spoke 
so  enthusiastically  of  her,  and  I  don't  see  now, 
but- 

"Well?" 

"  She'll  take  you,  and  you'll  be  as  well  set  up  as 
you  were  before.  Listen.  I  met  her  last  week  at 
the  Critchleys.  She  spoke  of  having  seen  you.  I 
could  see  she  was  dead  set  to  make  a  good  marriage. 
You  know  she  wanted  to  marry  Fred  Milbrey,  but 
Horace  and  his  mother  wouldn't  hear"  of  it  after 


THE    SPENDERS  427 

Avice  became  engaged  to  Rulon  Shepler.  I'm  in 
the  Critchleys'  box  to-night  and  I  understand  she's 
to  be  there.  Leave  it  to  me.  Now  it's  after  nine, 
so  run  along." 

"  But,  Mrs.  Drelmer,  there's  that  poor  girl  - 
she  cares  for  me,  and  I  like  her  immensely,  you 
know  —  truly  I  do  —  and  she's  a  trump  —  see 
where  she  says  here  she  couldn't  possibly  leave  her 
people  now  they've  come  down  —  even  if  matters 
were  not  otherwise  impossible." 

"  Well,  you  see  they're  not  only  otherwise  impos 
sible,  but  every  wise  impossible.  What  could  you 
do?  Go  to  Montana  with  them  and  learn  to  be  an 
Indian?  Don't  for  heaven's  sake  sentimentalise! 
Go  home  and  sleep  like  a  rational  creature.  Come 
in  by  eleven  to-morrow.  Even  without  the  title 
you'll  be  a  splendid  match  for  Mrs.  Wybert,  and  she 
must  have  a  tidy  lot  of  millions  after  this  deal." 

Sorely  distressed,  he  walked  back  to  his  lodgings 
in  Thirty-second  Street.  Wild,  Quixotic  notions  of 
sacrifice  flooded  his  mood  of  dejection.  If  the  worst 
came,  he  could  go  West  with  the  family  and  learn 
how  to  do  something.  And  yet  —  Mrs.  Wybert. 
Of  course  it  must  be  that.  The  other  idea  was 
absurd  —  too  wild  for  serious  consideration.  He 
was  thirty  years  old.  and  there  was  only  one  way 
for  an  English  gentleman  to  live  —  even  if  it  must 
break  the  heart  of  a  poor  girl  who  had  loved  him 
devotedly,  and  for  whom  he  had  felt  a  steady  and 
genuine  affection.  He  passed  a  troubled  night. 

Down  at  the  hotel  of  Peter  Bines  was  an  intima- 


428  THE    SPENDERS 

tion  from  Mrs.  Wybert  herself,  bearing  upon  this 
same  fortuity.  When  Uncle  Peter  reached  there 
at  2  A.MV  he  found  in  his  box  a  small  scented 
envelope  which  he  opened  with  wonder. 

Two  enclosures  fell  out.  One  was  a  clipping 
from  an  evening  paper,  announcing  the  birth  of 
twin  sons  to  Lord  Casselthorpe.  The  other  was  the 
card  he  had  left  with  Mrs.  Wybert  on  the  day  of  his 
call ;  his  name  on  one  side,  announcing  him ;  on 
the  other  the  words  he  had  written  : 

"  Sell  Consolidated  Copper  all  you  can  until  it 
goes  down  to  65.  Do  this  up  to  the  limit  of  your 
capital  and  I  will  make  good  anything  you  lose. 

"  PETER  BINES." 

He  read  the  note : 

"  ARLINGHAM  HOTEL  —  7.30. 
"  MR.  PETER  BINES  : 

"Dear  Sir:  —  You  funny  old  man,  you.  I  don't 
pretend  to  understand  your  game,  but  you  may  rely 
on  my  secrecy.  I  am  more  grateful  to  you  than 
words  can  utter  —  and  I  will  always  be  glad  to  do 
anything  for  you. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  BLANCHE  CATHERTON  WYBERT. 

"  P.  S.  About  that  other  matter  —  him  you 
know  —  you  will  see  from  this  notice  I  cut  from  the 
paper  that  the  party  won't  get  any  title  at  all  now, 
so  a  dead  swell  New  York  man  is  in  every  way  more 


THE    SPENDERS  429 

eligible.  In  fact  the  other  party  is  not  to  be  thought 
of  for  one  moment,  as  I  am  positive  you  would  agree 
with  me." 

He  tore  the  note  and  the  card  to  fine  bits. 

"  It  does  beat  all,"  he  complained  later  to  Billy 
Brue.  "  Put  a  beggar  on  horseback  and  they  begin 
right  away  to  fuss  around  because  the  bridle  ain't 
set  with  diamonds  —  give  'em  a  little,  and  they  want 
the  whole  ball  of  wax!  " 

"  That's  right,"  said  Billy  Brue.  with  the  quick 
sympathy  of  the  experienced.  "  That  guy  that 
doped  me,  he  wa'n't  satisfied  with  my  good  thirty- 
dollar  wad.  Not  by  no  means!  He  had  to  go 
take  my  breast-pin  nugget  from  the  Early  Bird." 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning  Mauburn 
waited  in  Mrs.  Drelmer's  drawing-room  for  the 
news  she  might  have. 

When  that  competent  person  sailed  in,  he  saw 
temporary  defeat  written  on  her  brow.  His  heart 
sank  to  its  low  level  of  the  night  before. 

"  Well.  I  saw  the  creature,"  she  began,  "  and  it 
required  no  time  at  all  to  reach  a  very  definite  under 
standing  with  her.  I  had  feared  it  might  be  rather 
a  delicate  matter,  talking  to  her  at  once,  you  know 
—  and  we  needed  to  hurry  —  but  she's  a  woman 
one  can  talk  to.  She's  made  heaps  of  money,  and 
the  poor  thing  is  society-mad  —  so  afraid  the 
modish  world  won't  take  her  at  her  true  value  — 
but  she  talked  very  frankly  about  marriage  —  really 
she's  cool-headed  for  all  the  fire  she  seems  to  have 


430  THE    SPENDERS 

—  and  the  short  of  it  is  that  she's  determined  to 
marry  some  one  of  the  smart  men  here  in  New 
York.  The  creature's  fascinated  by  the  very  idea." 

"  Did  you  mention  me?  " 

"  You  may  be  sure  I  did,  but  she'd  read  the 
papers,  and,  like  so  many  of  these  people,  she  has 
no  use  at  all  for  an  Englishman  without  a  title. 
Of  course  I  couldn't  be  too  definite  with  her,  but 
she  understood  perfectly,  and  she  let  me  see  she 
wouldn't  hear  of  it  at  all.  So  she's  off  the  list. 
But  don't  give  up.  Now,  there's  — 

But  Mauburn  was  determinedly  downcast. 

"  It's  uncommon  handsome  of  you,  Mrs.  Drel- 
mer,  really,  but  we'll  have  to  leave  off  that,  you 
know.  If  a  chap  isn't  heir  to  a  peerage  or  a  city 
fortune  there's  no  getting  on  that  way." 

"  Why,  the  man  is  actually  discouraged.  Now 
you  need  some  American  pluck,  old  chap.  An 
American  of  your  age  wouldn't  give  up." 

"  But,  hang  it  all !  an  American  knows  how  to 
do  things,  you  know,  and  like  as  not  he'd  nothing 
to  begin  with,  by  Jove!  Now  I'd  a  lot  to  begin 
with,  and  here  it's  all  taken  away." 

"  Look  at  young  Bines.  He's  had  a  lot  taken 
away,  but  I'll  wager  he  makes  it  all  back  again  and 
more  too  before  he's  forty." 

"  He  might  in  this  country ;  he'd  never  do  it  at 
home,  you  know." 

"  This  country  is  for  you  as  much  as  for  him. 
Now,  there's  Augusta  Hartong  - —  those  mixed- 
pickle  millionaires,  you  know.  I  was  chatting 


THE    SPENDERS  431 

with  Augusta's  mother  only  the  other  day,  and  if 
I'd  only  suspected  this  — 

"  Awfully  kind  of  you,  Mrs.  Drelmer,  but  it's  no 
use.  I'm  fairly  played  out.  I  shall  go  to  see  Miss 
Bines,  and  have  a  chat  with  her  people,  you  know." 

"  Now,  for  heaven's  sake,  don't  make  a  silly  of 
yourself,  whatever  you  do!  Mind,  the  girl  released 
you  of  her  own  accord !  " 

"  Awfully  obliged.  I'll  think  about  it  jolly  well, 
first.  See  you  soon.  Good-bye!"  And  Mauburn 
was  off. 

He  was  reproaching  himself.  "  That  poor  girl 
has  been  eating  her  heart  out  for  a  word  of  love 
from  me.  I'm  a  brute !  " 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

The  God  in  the  Machine 

UNCLE  PETER  next  morning  was  up  to  a  late 
breakfast  with  the  stricken  family.  Percival 
found  him  a  trifle  less  bitter,  but  not  less  con 
vinced  in  his  despair.  The  young  man  himself  had 
recovered  his  spirits  wonderfully.  The  utter  col 
lapse  of  the  old  man,  always  so  reliant  before, 
had  served  to  fire  all  his  latent  energy.  He  was 
now  voluble  with  plans  for  the  future ;  not  only 
determined  to  reassure  Uncle  Peter  that  the  family 
would  be  provided  for,  but  not  a  little  anxious  to 
justify  the  old  man's  earlier  praise,  and  refute  his 
calumnies  of  the  night  before. 

Mrs.  Bines,  so  complacent  overnight,  was  the 
most  disconsolate  one  of  the  group.  With  her  low 
tastes  she  was  now  regarding  the  loss  of  the  fortune 
as  a  calamity  to  the  worthy  infants  of  her  own 
chosen  field. 

"  And  there,  I'd  promised  to  give  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  new  home  for  crippled  children,  and 
five  thousand  to  St.  John's  Guild  for  the  floating 
hospitals  this  summer-- just  yesterday  —  and  I  do 
declare,  I  just  couldn't  stay  in  New  York  without 
money,  and  see  those  poor  babies  suffer." 

432 


THE    SPENDERS  433 

''  You  couldn't  stay  in  New  York  without  money, 
Mrs.  Good-thing,"  said  her  son,  —  "  not  even  if  you 
couldn't  see  a  thing;  but  don't  you  welsh  on  any 
of  your  plays  —  we'll  make  that  ten  thousand  good 
if  I  have  to  get  a  sand-bag,  and  lay  out  a  few  of 
these  lads  around  here  some  dark  night." 

"  But  anyway  you  can't  do  much  to  relieve  them. 
I  don't  know  but  what  it's  honester  to  be  poor  while 
the  authorities  allow  such  goings  on." 

"  You  have  the  makings  of  a  very  dangerous 
anarchist  in  you,  ma.  I've  seen  that  for  some  time. 
But  we're  an  honest  family  all  right  now,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  properties  that  I'll  have  to  sit 
up  with  nights  —  sit  right  by  their  sick-beds  and 
wake  them  up  to  take  their  meddy  every  half 
hour  — 

"  Now,  my  son,  don't  you  get  to  going  without 
your  sleep,"  began  his  mother. 

"  And  wasn't  it  lucky  about  my  sending  that  note 
to  George!  "  said  Psyche.  "  Here  in  this  morning's 
paper  we  find  he  isn't  going  to  be  Lord  Casselthorpe, 
after  all.  What  could  I  have  done  if  we  hadn't  lost 
the  money?"  From  which  it  might  be  inferred 
that  certain  people  who  had  declared  Miss  Bines 
to  be  very  hard-headed  were  not  so  far  wrong  as  the 
notorious  "  casual  observer  "  is  very  apt  to  be. 

"  Never  you  mind,  sis,"  said  her  brother,  cheer 
fully,  "  we'll  be  all  right  yet.  You  wait  a  little, 
and  hear  Uncle  Peter  take  back  what  he's  said 
about  me.  Uncle  Peter,  I'll  have  you  taking  off 
that  hat  of  yours  every  time  you  get  sight  of  me, 
in  about  a  vear." 


434  THE    SPENDERS 

He  went  again  over  the  plans.  The  income  from 
the  One  Girl  was  to  be  used  in  developing  the  other 
properties :  the  stock  ranch  up  on  the  Bitter  Root, 
the  other  mines  that  had  been  worked  but  little  and 
with  crude  appliances;  the  irrigation  and  land- 
improvement  enterprises,  and  the  big  timber  tracts. 

"  I  got  something  of  an  idea  of  it  when  Uncle 
Peter  took  me  around  summer  before  last,  and  I 
learned  a  lot  more  getting  the  stuff  together  with 
Coplen.  Now,  I'm  ready  to  buckle  down  to  it." 
He  looked  at  Uncle  Peter,  hungry  for  a  word  of 
encouragement  to  soothe  the  hurts  the  old  man 
had  put  upon  him. 

But  all  Uncle  Peter  would  say  was,  "  That  sounds 
very  well,"  compelling  the  inference  that  he  re 
garded  sound  and  substance  as  phenomena  not 
necessarily  related. 

"  But  give  me  a  chance,  Uncle  Peter.  Just  don't 
jump  on  me  too  hard  for  a  year !  " 

"  Well,  I  know  that  country.  There's  big  chances 
for  a  young  man  with  brains  —  understand  ?  —  that 
has  got  all  the  high-living  nonsense  blasted  out  of 
his  upper  levels  —  but  it  takes  work.  You  may 
do  something  —  there  are  white  blackbirds  —  but 
you're  on  a  nasty  piece  of  road-bed  —  curves  all 
down  on  the  outside  —  wheels  flatted  under  every 
truck,  and  you've  had  her  down  in  the  corner  so  long 
I  doubt  if  you  can  even  slow  up,  say  nothin'  of 
reversin'.  And  think  of  me  gettin'  fooled  that  way 
at  my  time  of  life,"  he  continued,  as  if  in  confidence 
to  himself.  "  But  then,  I  always  was  a  terrible  poor 
judge  of  human  nature." 


THE    SPENDERS  435 

"  Well,  have  your  own  way ;  but  I'll  fool  you 
again,  while  you're  coppering  me.  You  watch, 
that's  all  I  ask.  Just  sit  around  and  talk  wise  about 
me  all  you  want  to,  but  watch.  Now,  I  must  go 
down  and  get  to  work  with  Fonts.  Thank  the 
Lord,  we  didn't  have  to  welsh  either,  any  more  than 
Mrs.  Give-up  there  did." 

"You  won't  touch  any  more  stock;  you  won't 
'>'et  that  money  from  Shepler?  " 

"  I  won't;  I  won't  go  near  Shepler,  I  promise  you. 
Now  you'll  believe  me  in  one  thing.  I  know  you 
will,  Uncle  Peter."  He  went  over  to  the  old  man. 

"  I  want  to  thank  you  for  pulling  me  up  on  that 
play  as  you  did  last  night.  You  saved  me,  and  I'm 
more  grateful  to  you  than  I  can  say.  But  for  you 
I'd  have  gone  in  and  dug  the  hole  deeper."  He 
made  the  old  man  shake  hands  with  him  —  though 
Uncle  Peter's  hand  remained  limp  and  cheerless. 
"  You  can  shake  on  that,  at  least.  You  saved  me, 
and  I  thank  you  for  it." 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  you  got  some  sense,"  answered 
the  old  man,  grudgingly.  "  It's  always  the  way 
in  that  stock  game.  There's  always  goin'  to  be  a 
big  killing  made  in  Wall  Street  to-morrow,  only 
to-morrow  never  comes.  Reminds  me  of  Hollings's 
old  turtle  out  at  Spokane  —  Hollings  that  keeps  the 
Little  Gem  restaurant.  He's  got  an  enormous  big 
turtle  in  his  cellar  that  he's  kept  to  my  knowledge 
fur  fifteen  years.  Every  time  he  gets  a  little  turtle 
from  the  coast  he  takes  a  can  of  red  paint  down 
cellar,  and  touches  up  the  sign  on  old  Ben's  back  — 


436  THE   SPENDERS 

they  call  the  turtle  Ben,  after  Hollings's  father-in- 
law  that  won  t  do  a  thing  but  lay  around  the  house 
all  the  time,  and  kick  about  the  meals.  Well,  the 
sign  on  Ben's  back  is,  '  Green  Turtle  Soup  To 
morrow,'  and  Ben  is  drug  up  to  the  sidewalk  in 
front  of  the  Little  Gem.  And  Rollings  does  have 
turtle-soup  next  day,  but  it's  always  the  little  turtles 
that's  killed,  and  old  Ben  is  hiked  back  to  his  boudoir 
until  another  killing  comes  off.  It's  a  good  deal 
like  that  in  Wall  Street;  there's  killings  made,  but 
the  big  fellers  with  the  signs  on  their  back  don't 
worry  none." 

"  You're  right,  Uncle  Peter.  It  certainly  wasn't 
my  game.  Will  you  come  down  with  me  ?  " 

"Me?  Shucks,  no!  I'm  jest  a  poor,  broken 
old  man,  now.  I'm  goin'  down  to  the  square  if  I 
can  walk  that  fur,  and  set  on  a  bench  in  the  sun." 

Uncle  Peter  did  succeed  in  walking  as  far  as 
Madison  Square.  He  walked,  indeed,  with  a  step 
of  amazing  springiness  for  a  man  of  his  years.  But 
there,  instead  of  reposing  in  the  sun,  he  entered  a 
cab  and  was  driven  to  the  Vandevere  Building, 
where  he  sent  in  his  name  to  Rulon  Shepler. 

He  was  ushered  into  Shepler's  office  after  a 
little  delay.  The  two  men  shook  hands  warmly. 
Uncle  Peter  was  grinning  now  with  rare  enjoyment 
—  he  who  had  in  the  presence  of  the  family  shown 
naught  but  broken  age  and  utter  despondency. 

'*  You  rough-housed  the  boy  considerable  yester 
day." 

"  I  never  believed  the  fellow  would  hold  on,"  said 


THE    SPENDERS  437 

Shepler.  "  I'm  sure  you're  right  in  a  way  about 
the  West.  There  isn't  another  man  in  this  section 
who'd  have  plunged  as  he  did.  Really,  Mr.  Bines, 
the  Street's  never  known  anything  like  it.  Here  are 
those  matters/' 

He  handed  the  old  man  a  dozen  or  so  certified 
checks  on  as  many  different  banks.  Each  check  had 
many  figures  on  it.  Uncle  Peter  placed  them  in  his 
old  leather  wallet. 

''  I  knew  he'd  plunge,"  he  said,  taking  the  chair 
proffered  him,  near  Shepler's  desk.  "  I  knew  he 
was  a  natural  born  plunger,  and  I  knew  that  once 
he  gets  an  idea  in  his  head  you  can't  blast  it  out; 
makes  no  difference  what  he  starts  on  he'll  play 
the  string  out.  His  pa  w7as  jest  that  way.  Then 
of  course  he  wa'n't  used  to  money,  and  he  was 
ignorant  of  this  game,  and  he  didn't  realise  what 
he  was  doin'.  He  sort  of  distrusted  himself  along 
toward  the  last  —  but  1  kept  him  swelled  up  good 
and  plenty." 

''  Well,  I'm  glad  it's  over,  Mr.  Bines.  Of  course 
I  concede  the  relative  insignificance  of  money  to  a 
young  man  of  his  qualities  — 

"  Not  its  relative  insignificance,  Mr.  Shepler  — 
it's  plain  damned  insignificance,  if  you'll  excuse  the 
word.  If  that  boy'd  gone  on  he'd  'a'  been  one  of 
what  Billy  Brue  calls  them  high-collared  Clarences 
-  no  good  fur  anything  but  to  spend  money,  and 
get  apoplexy  or  worse  by  forty.  As  it  is  now,  he'll 
be  a  man.  He's  got  his  health  turned  on  like  a 
steam  radiator,  he's  full  of  responsibility,  and  he's 
really  long-headed." 


438  THE    SPENDERS 

"  How  did  he  take  the  loss?  " 

"  He  acted  jest  like  a  healthy  baby  does  when  you 
take  one  toy  away  from  him.  He  cries  a  minute, 
then  forgets  all  about  it,  and  grabs  up  something 
else  to  play  with.  His  other  toy  was  bad.  What 
he's  playin'  with  now  will  do  him  a  lot  of  good." 

"  He's  not  discouraged,  then  —  he's  really  hope 
ful?" 

"  That  ain't  any  name  fur  it.  Why,  he's  actin' 
this  mornin'  jest  like  the  world's  his  oyster  —  and 
every  month  had  an  '  r  '  in  it  at  that." 

"  I'm  delighted  to  hear  it.  I've  always  been  taken 
with  the  chap;  and  I'm  very  glad  you  read  him 
correctly.  It  seemed  to  me  you  were  taking  a  risk. 
It  would  have  broken  the  spirit  of  most  men." 

"  Well,  you  see  I  knew  the  stock.  It's  pushin', 
fightiir  stock.  My  grandfather  fought  his  way 
west  to  Pennsylvania  when  that  country  was 
wilder'n  Africa,  and  my  father  fought  his  way  to 
Ohio  when  that  was  the  frontier.  I  seen  some  hard 
times  myself,  and  this  boy's  father  was  a  fighter, 
too.  So  I  knew  the  boy  had  it  in  him,  all  right. 
He's  got  his  faults,  but  they  don't  hurt  him  none." 

"Will  he  return  West?" 

"  He  will  that  —  and  the  West  is  the  only  place 
fur  him.  He  was  gettin'  bad  notions  about  his  own 
country  here  from  them  folks  that's  always  crackin' 
up  the  '  other  side  '  'sif  there  wa'n't  any  '  this  side,' 
worth  speakin'  of  in  company.  This  was  no  place 
fur  him.  Mr.  Shepler,  this  whole  country  is  God's 
country.  I  don't  talk  much  about  them  things,  but 


THE    SPENDERS  439 

I  believe  in  God  —  a  man  has  to  if  he  lives  so 
much  alone  in  them  wild  places  as  I  have  —  and  I 
believe  this  country  is  His  favourite.  I  believe  He 
set  it  apart  fur  great  works.  The  history  of  the 
United  States  bears  me  out  so  fur.  And  I  didn't 
want  any  of  my  stock  growin'  up  without  feelin' 
that  he  had  the  best  native  land  on  earth,  and  with 
out  bein'  ready  to  fight  fur  it  at  the  drop  of  the 
hat.  And  jest  between  you  and  me,  I  believe  we 
can  raise  that  kind  in  the  West  better  n  you  can  here 
in  New  York.  You  got  a  fine  handsome  town  here, 
it's  a  corkin'  good  place  to  see  —  and  get  out  of  — 
but  it  ain't  any  breedin'  place  —  there  ain't  the 
room  to  grow.  Now  we  produce  everything  in  the 
West,  includin'  men.  Here  you  don't  do  anything 
but  consume  —  includin'  men.  If  the  West  stopped 
producin'  men  fur  you,  you'd  be  as  bad  off  as  if  it 
stopped  producin'  food.  You  can't  grow  a  big 
man  on  this  island  any  more  than  you  can  grow 
wheat  out  there  on  Broadway.  You're  all  right. 
You  folks  have  your  uses.  I  ain't  like  one  of  these 
crazy  Populists  that  thinks  you're  rascals  and  all 
like  that ;  but  my  point  is  that  you  don't  get  the  fun 
out  of  life.  You  don't  get  the  big  feelin's.  Out  in 
the  West  they're  the  flesh  and  blood  and  bone;  and 
you  people  here,  meanin'  no  disrespect  —  you're  the 
dimples  and  wrinkles  and  —  the  warts.  You  spend 
and  gamble  back  and  forth  with  that  money  we  raise 
and  dig  out  of  the  ground,  and  you  think  you're 
p;ettin'  the  best  end  of  it,  but  you  ain't.  I  found 
that  out  thirty-two  years  ago  this  spring.  I  had  a 


440  THE    SPENDERS 

crazy  fool  notion  then  to  go  back  there  even  when 
I  hadn't  gone  broke  —  and  I  done  well  to  go.  And 
that's  why  I  wanted  that  boy  back  there.  And 
that's  why  I'm  mighty  proud  of  him,  to  see  he's 
so  hot  to  go  and  take  hold,  like  I  knew  he  would 
be." 

"  That's  excellent.  Now,  Mr.  Bines,  I  like  him 
and  I  dare  say  you've  done  the  best  thing  for  him, 
unusual  as  it  was.  But  don't  grind  him.  Might  it 
not  be  well  to  ease  up  a  little  after  he's  out  there? 
You  might  let  it  be  understood  that  I  am  willing  to 
finance  any  of  those  propositions  there  liberally  - 

"  No,  no  —  that  ain't  the  way  to  handle  him. 
Say,  I  don't  expect  to  quit  cussin'  him  fur  another 
thirty  days  yet.  I  want  him  to  think  he  ain't  got 
a  friend  on  earth  but  himself.  Why,  I'd  have  made 
this  play  just  as  I  have  done,  Mr.  Shepler,  if  there 
hadn't  been  a  chance  to  get  back  a  cent  of  it  —  if 
we'd  had  to  go  plumb  broke  —  back  to  the  West 
in  an  emigrant  car,  with  bologna  and  crackers  to 
eat,  that's  what  I'd  have  done.  No,  sir,  no  help  fur 
him!" 

"  Aren't  you  a  little  hard  on  him  ?  " 

"  Not  a  bit ;  don't  I  know  the  stock,  and  know 
just  what  he  needs?  Most  men  you  couldn't  treat 
as  I'm  treatin'  him;  but  with  him,  the  harder  you 
bear  down  on  him  the  more  you'll  get  out  of  him. 
That  was  the  way  with  his  pa  —  he  was  a  different 
man  after  things  got  to  comin'  too  easy  fur  him. 
This  fellow,  the  way  I'm  treatin'  him,  will  keep  his 
head  even  after  he  gets  things  comin'  easy  again, 


THE    SPENDERS  441 

or  I  miss  my  guess.  He  thinks  I  despise  him  now. 
If  you  told  him  I  was  proud  of  him,  I  almost  believe 
you  could  get  a  bet  out  of  him,  sick  as  he  is  of 
gamblin'." 

"  Has  he  suspected  anything?  " 

"  Sure,  not !  Why,  he  just  thanked  me  about  an 
hour  ago  fur  savin'  him  —  made  me  shake  hands 
with  him  —  and  I  could  see  the  tears  back  in  his 
eyes." 

The  old  man  chuckled. 

"  It  was  like  Len  Carey's  Nigger  Jim.  Len  had 
Jim  set  apart  on  the  plantation  fur  his  own  nigger. 
They  fished  and  went  huntin'  and  swimmin'  to 
gether.  One  day  they'd  been  swimmin',  and  was 
lyin'  up  on  the  bank.  Len  got  thinkin'  he'd  never 
seen  any  one  drown.  He  knew  Jim  couldn't  swim 
a  lick,  so  he  thought  he'd  have  Jim  go  drown.  He 
says  to  him,  'Jim,  go  jump  off  that  rock  there!' 
That  was  where  the  deep  hole  was.  Jim  was  scar't, 
but  he  had  to  go.  After  he'd  gone  down  once,  Len 
says  to  him,  '  Drown,  now,  you  damn  nigger !  '  and 
Jim  come  up  and  went  down  twice  more.  Then  Len 
begun  to  think  Jim  was  worth  a  good  bit  of  money, 
and  mebbe  he'd  be  almighty  walloped  if  the  truth 
come  out,  so  he  dives  in  after  Jim  and  gets  him 
shore,  and  after  while  he  brought  him  to.  Anyway, 
he  said,  Jim  had  already  sure-enough  drowned  as 
fur  as  there  was  any  fun  in  it.  Well,  Len  Carey 
is  an  old  man  now,  and  Jim  is  an  old  white-headed 
nigger  still  hangin'  around  the  old  place,  and  when 
Len  goes  back  there  to  visit  his  relatives,  old  Nigger 


442  THE    SPENDERS 

Jim  hunts  him  up  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  and  thanks 
Mister  Leonard  fur  savin'  his  life  that  time.  Say, 
I  felt  this  mornin'  like  Len  Carey  must  feel  them 
times  when  Jim's  thankin'  him." 

Shepler  laughed. 

"  You're  a  rare  man,  Mr.  Bines.  I'll  hope  to  have 
your  cheerful,  easy  views  of  life  if  I  ever  lose  my 
hold  here  in  the  Street.  I  hope  I'll  have  the  old 
Bines  philosophy  and  the  young  Bines  spirit.  That 
reminds  me,"  he  continued  as  Uncle  Peter  rose  to 
go,  "  we've  been  pretty  confidential,  Mr.  Bines,  and 
I  don't  mind  telling  you  I  was  a  bit  afraid  of  that 
young  man  until  yesterday.  Oh,  not  on  the  stock 
proposition.  On  another  matter.  You  may  have 
noticed  that  night  at  the  Oldakers' -- well,  women, 
Mr.  Bines,  are  uncertain.  I  know  something  about 
markets  and  the  ways  of  a  dollar,  but  all  I  know 
about  women  is  that  they're  good  to  have.  You 
can't  know  any  more  about  them,  because  they  don't 
know  any  more  themselves.  Just  between  us,  now, 
I  never  felt  any  too  sure  of  a  certain  young  woman's 
state  of  mind  until  copper  reached  51  and  Union 
Cordage  had  been  blown  up  from  inside." 

They  parted  with  warm  expressions  of  good-will, 
and  Uncle  Peter,  in  high  spirits  at  the  success  of 
his  machinations,  had  himself  driven  up-town. 

The  only  point  where  his  plans  had  failed  was 
in  Mrs.  Wybert's  refusal  to  consider  Mauburn  after 
the  birth  of  the  Casselthorpe  twins.  Yet  he  felt 
that  matters,  in  spite  of  this  happening,  must  go  as 
he  wished  them  to.  The  Englishman  —  Uncle 


THE    SPENDERS  443 

Peter  cherished  the  strong  anti-British  sentiment 
peculiar  to  his  generation  —  would  surely  never 
marry  a  girl  who  was  all  but  penniless,  and  the 
consideration  of  an  alliance  with  Mrs.  Wybert,  when 
the  fortune  should  be  lost,  had,  after  all,  been  an 
incident  —  a  means  of  showing  the  girl,  if  she 
should  prove  to  be  too  deeply  infatuated  with  Mau- 
burn  for  her  own  peace  of  mind  —  how  unworthy 
and  mercenary  he  was ;  for  he  had  meant,  in  that 
event,  to  disillusion  her  by  disclosing  something 
of  Mrs.  Wybert's  history  —  the  woman  Mauburn 
should  prefer  to  her.  He  still  counted  confidently 
on  the  loss  of  the  fortune  sufficing  to  break  the 
match. 

When  he  reached  the  Hightower  that  night  for 
dinner,  he  found  Percival  down-stairs  in  great  glee 
over  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  funny  situation. 

"  Don't  ask  me,  Uncle  Peter.  I  couldn't  get  it 
straight;  but  as  near  as  I  could  make  out,  Mau 
burn  came  up  here  afraid  the  blow  of  losing  him 
was  going  to  kill  sis  with  a  broken  heart,  and  sis 
was  afraid  the  blow  was  going  to  kill  Mauburn, 
because  she  wouldn't  have  married  him  anyway,  rich 
or  poor,  after  he'd  lost  the  title.  They  found  each 
other  out  some  way,  and  then  Mauburn  accused 
her  of  being  heartless,  of  caring  only  for  his  title, 
and  she  accused  him  of  caring  only  for  her  money, 
and  he  insisted  she  ought  to  marry  him  anyway, 
but  she  wouldn't  have  it  because  of  the  twins  — ' 

Uncle  Peter  rubbed  his  big  brown  hands  with  the 
first  signs  of  cheerfulness  he  had  permitted  Percival 
to  detect  in  him. 


444  THE    SPENDERS 

"  Good  fur  Pish  —  that's  the  way  to  take  down 
them  conceited  Britishers  — 

"  But  then  they  went  at  matters  again  from  a 
new  standpoint,  and  the  result  is  they've  made  it  up." 

"What?  Has  them  precious  twin  Casselthorpes 
perished?  " 

"  Not  at  all,  both  doing  finely  —  haven't  even 
had  colic  —  growing  fast  —  probably  learned  to  say 
'  fancy,  now,'  by  this  time.  But  Mauburn's  going 
West  with  us  if  we'll  take  him." 

"Get  out!" 

"  Fact !  Say,  it  must  have  been  an  awful  blow  to 
him  when  he  found  sis  wouldn't  think  of  him  at  all 
without  his  title,  even  if  she  was  broke.  They  had 
a  stormy  time  of  it  from  all  I  can  hear.  He  said 
he  was  strong  enough  to  work  and  all  that,  and 
since  he'd  cared  for  her,  and  not  for  her  money,  it 
was  low  down  of  her  to  throw  him  over;  then  she 
said  she  wouldn't  leave  her  mother  and  us,  now  that 
we  might  need  her,  not  for  him  or  any  other  man  — 
and  he  said  that  only  made  him  love  her  all  the 
more,  and  then  he  got  chesty,  and  said  he  was  just 
as  good  as  any  American,  even  if  he  never  would 
have  a  title;  so  pretty  soon  they  got  kind  of  in 
terested  in  each  other  again,  and  by  the  time  I 
came  home  it  was  all  over.  They  ratified  the  pre 
liminary  agreement  for  a  merger." 

"Well,  I  snum!" 

"  That's  right,  go  ahead  and  snum.  I'd  snum 
myself  if  I  knew  how  —  it  knocked  me.  Better 
come  up-stairs  and  congratulate  the  happy  couple." 


THE    SPENDERS  445 

"  Shoo,  now !  I  certainly  am  mighty  disap 
pointed  in  that  fellow.  Still  he  is  well  spotted,  and 
them  freckles  mean  iron  in  the  blood.  Maybe  we 
can  develop  him  along  with  the  other  properties." 

They  found  Psyche  already  radiant,  though 
showing  about  her  eyes  traces  of  the  storm's  devas 
tations.  Mauburn  was  looking  happy;  also  defiant 
and  stubborn. 

"  Mr  Bines,"  he  said  to  Uncle  Peter,  "  I  hope 
you'll  side  with  me.  I  know  something  about 
horses,  and  I've  nearly  a  thousand  pounds  that  I'll 
be  glad  to  put  in  with  you  out  there  if  you  can  make 
a  place  for  me." 

The  old  man  looked  him  over  quizzically.  Psyche 
put  her  arm  through  Mauburn's. 

"  I'd  have  to  marry  some  one,  you  know,  Uncle 
Peter!" 

"  Don't  apologise,  Pish.  There's  room  for  men 
that  can  work  out  there,  Mr.  Mauburn,  but  there 
ain't  any  vintages  or  trouserings  to  speak  of,  and 
the  hours  is  long." 

"Try  me,  Mr.  Bines!" 

"  Well,  come  on!  If  you  can't  skin  yourself  you 
can  hold  a  leg  while  somebody  else  skins.  But  you 
ain't  met  my  expectations,  I'll  say  that."  And  he 
shook  hands  cordially  with  the  Englishman. 

"  I  say,  you  know,"  said  Mauburn  later  to  Psyche, 
"why  should  I  skin  myself?  Why  should  I  be 
skinned  at  all,  you  know?  " 

"  You  shouldn't,"  she  reassured  him.  "  That's 
only  Uncle  Peter's  way  of  saying  you  can  help  the 


446  THE    SPENDERS 

others,  even  if  you  can't  do  much  yourself  at  first. 
And  won't  Mrs.  Drelmer  be  delighted  to  know  it's 
all  settled?" 

"  Well,"  said  Uncle  Peter  to  Percival,  later  in 
the  evening,  "  Pish  has  done  better  than  you  have 
here.  It's  a  pity  you  didn't  pick  out  some  good 
sensible  girl,  and  marry  her  in  the  midst  of  your 
other  doings." 

"  I  couldn't  find  one  that  liked  cats.  I  saw  a  lot 
that  suited  every  other  way  but  I  always  said  to 
myself,  '  Remember  Uncle  Peter's  warning!  '  so  I'd 
go  to  an  animal  store  and  get  a  basket  of  kittens 
and  take  them  around,  and  not  one  of  the  dozen 
stood  your  test.  Of  course  I'd  never  disregard  your 
advice." 

"  Hum,"  remarked  Uncle  Peter,  in  a  tone  to  be 
noticed  for  its  extreme  dryness.  "  Too  bad,  though 
—  you  certainly  need  a  wife  to  take  the  conceit  out 
of  you." 

"  I  lost  that  in  the  Street,  along  with  the  rest." 

'''  Well,  son,  I  ain't  no  ways  alarmed  but  what 
you'll  soon  be  on  your  feet  again  in  that  respect  - 
say  by  next  Tuesday  or  Wednesday.     I  wish  the 
money  was  comin'  back  as  easy." 

"  Well,  there  are  girls  in  Montana  City." 
'  You  could  do  worse.  That  reminds  me  —  I  hap 
pened  to  meet  Shepler  to-day  and  he  got  kind  of 
confidential,  —  talkin'  over  matters.  He  said  he'd 
never  really  felt  sure  about  the  affections  of  a  certain 
young  woman,  especially  after  that  night  at  the  Old- 
akers'--he'd  never  felt  dead  sure  of  her  until  you 


THE    SPENDERS  447 

went    broke.      He    said    you    never    could    know 
anything  about  a  woman  —  not  really." 

"  He  knows  something  about  that  one,  all  right, 
if  he  knows  she  wouldn't  have  any  use  for  me  now. 
Shepler's  coming  on  with  the  ladies.  I  feel  quite 
hopeful  about  him." 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

The  Departiire  of  Uncle  Peter — And  Some 
German  Philosophy 

THE  Bineses,  with  the  exception  of  Psyche, 
were  at  breakfast  a  week  later.  Miss  Bines 
had  been  missing  since  the  day  that  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Cecil  G.  H.  Mauburn  had  left  for  Montana 
City  to  put  the  Bines  home  in  order. 

Uncle  Peter  and  Mrs.  Bines  had  now  determined 
to  go,  leaving  Percival  to  follow  when  he  had  closed 
his  business  affairs. 

"  It's  like  starting  West  again  to  make  our  for 
tune,"  said  Uncle  Peter.  He  had  suffered  himself 
to  regain  something  of  his  old  cheerfulness  of 
manner. 

"  I  wish  you  two  would  wait  until  they  can  get 
the  car  here,  and  go  back  with  me,"  said  Percival. 
"  We  can  go  back  in  style  even  if  we  didn't  save 
much  more  than  a  get-away  stake." 

But  his  persuasions  were  unavailing. 

"  I  can't  stand  it  another  day,"  said  Mrs.  Bines, 
"  and  those  letters  keep  coming  in  from  poor  suffer 
ing  people  that  haven't  heard  the  news." 

"  I'm  too  restless  to  stay,"  declared  Uncle  Peter. 
"  I  declare,  with  spring  all  greenin'  up  this  way  I'd 

448 


THE    SPENDERS  449 

be  found  campin'  up  in  Central  Park  some  night 
and  took  off  to  the  calaboose.  I  just  got  to  get  out 
again  where  you  can  feel  the  wind  blow  and  see 
a  hundred  miles  and  don't  have  to  dodge  horseless 
horse-cars  every  minute.  It's  a  wonder  one  of  'em 
ain't  got  me  in  this  town.  You  come  on  in  the  car, 
and  do  the  style  fur  the  family.  One  of  them 
common  Pullmans  is  good  enough  fur  Marthy  and 
me.  And  besides,  I  got  to  get  Billy  Brue  back.  He's 
goin'  plumb  daft  lookin'  night  and  day  fur  that 
man  that  got  his  thirty  dollars  and  his  breastpin. 
He  says  there'll  be  an  ambulance  backed  up  at  the 
spot  where  he  meets  him  —  makes  no  difference 
if  it's  right  on  Fifth  Avenue.  Billy's  kind  of  near 
sighted  at  that,  so  I'm  mortal  afraid  he'll  make  a 
mistake  one  of  these  nights  and  take  some  honest 
man's  money  and  trinkets  away  from  him." 

"  Well,  here's  a  Sun  editorial  to  take  back  with 
us,"  said  Percival;  "you  remember  we  came  East 
on  one."  He  read  aloud: 

"  The  great  fall  in  the  price  of  copper,  Western 
Trolley,  and  cordage  stocks  has  ruined  thousands 
of  people  all  over  this  country.  These  losses  are 
doubtless  irreparable  so  far  as  the  stocks  in  ques 
tion  are  concerned.  The  losers  will  have  to  look 
elsewhere  for  recovery.  That  they  will  do  so  writh 
good  courage  is  not  to  be  doubted.  It  might  be 
argued  with  reasonable  plausibility  that  Americans 
are  the  greatest  fatalists  in  the  world;  the  readiest 
to  take  chances  and  the  least  given  to  whining  when 
the  cards  go  against  them. 


450  THE   SPENDERS 

"  A  case  in  point  is  that  of  a  certain  Western 
family  whose  fortune  has  been  swept  away  by  the 
recent  financial  hurricane.  If  ever  a  man  liked  to 
match  with  Destiny,  not  '  for  the  beers,'  but  for  big 
stakes,  the  young  head  of  the  family  in  question 
appears  to  have  been  that  man.  He  persisted  in 
believing  that  the  power  and  desire  of  the  rich  men 
controlling  these  three  stocks  were  great  enough 
to  hold  their  securities  at  a  point  far  above  their 
actual  value.  In  this  persistence  he  displayed 
courage  worthy  of  a  better  reward.  A  courage, 
moreover  —  the  gambler's  courage  —  that  is  typ 
ically  American.  Now  he  has  had  a  plenty  of  that 
pleasure  of  losing  which,  in  Mr.  Fox's  estimation, 
comes  next  to  the  pleasure  of  winning. 

"  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  political  econo 
mist  or  the  moralist,  thrift,  saving,  and  contentment 
with  a  modest  competence  are  to  be  encouraged,  and 
the  propensity  to  gamble  is  to  be  condemned.  We 
stand  by  the  copy-book  precepts.  Yet  it  is  only 
honest  to  confess  that  there  is  something  of  this 
young  American's  love  for  chances  in  most  of  us. 
American  life  is  still  so  fluid,  the  range  of  oppor 
tunity  so  great,  the  national  temperament  so  buoy 
ant,  daring,  and  hopeful,  that  it  is  easier  for  an 
American  to  try  his  luck  again  than  to  sit  down 
snugly  and  enjoy  what  he  has.  The  fun  and  the  ex 
citement  of  the  game  are  more  than  the  game. 
There  are  Americans  and  plenty  of  them  who  will 
lose  all  they  have  in  some  magnificent  scheme,  and 
make  much  less  fuss  about  it  than  a  Paris  shop 
keeper  would  over  a  bad  twenty-franc  piece. 


THE    SPENDERS  451 

"  Our  disabled  young  Croesus  from  the  West  is  a 
luminous  specimen  of  the  type.  The  country  would 
be  less  interesting  without  his  kind,  and,  on  the 
whole,  less  healthy  —  for  they  provide  one  of  the 
needed  ferments.  May  the  young  man  make  an 
other  fortune  in  his  own  far  West  —  and  come  once 
more  to  rattle  the  dry  bones  of  our  Bourse!  " 

"  He'll  be  too  much  stuck  on  Montana  by  the 
time  he  gets  that  fortune,"  observed  Uncle  Peter. 

"  1  will  that,  Uncle  Peter.  Still  it's  pleasant  to 
know  we've  won  their  good  opinion." 

"  Excuse  me  fur  swearin',  Marthy,"  said  Uncle 
Peter,  turning  to  Mrs.  Bines,  "  but  he  can  win  a 
better  opinion  than  that  in  Montana  fur  a  damn 
sight  less  money." 

"  That  editor  is  right,"  said  Mrs.  Bines,  "  what 
he  says  about  American  life  being  '  fluid.'  There's 
altogether  too  much  drinking  goes  on  here,  and  I'm 
glad  my  son  quit  it." 

Percival  saw  them  to  the  train. 

"  Take  care  of  yourself,"  said  Uncle  Peter  at 
parting.  "  You  know  I  ain't  any  good  any  more, 
and  you  got  a  whole  family,  includin'  an  English 
man,  dependin'  on  you  —  we'll  throw  him  on  the 
town,  though,  if  he  don't  take  out  his  first  papers 
the  minute  I  get  there." 

His  last  shot  from  the  rear  platform  was : 

"  Change  your  name  back  to  '  Pete,'  son,  when 
you  get  west  of  Chicago.  'Tain't  anything  fancy, 
but  it's  a  crackin'  good  business  name  fur  a  hustler !" 


452  THE    SPENDERS 

"All  right,  Uncle  Peter,  —  and  I  hope  I'll  have 
a  grandson  that  thinks  as  much  of  it  as  I  do  of 
yours." 

When  they  had  gone,  he  went  back  to  the  work 
of  final  adjustment.  He  had  the  help  of  Coplen. 
whom  they  had  sent  for.  With  him  he  was  busy 
for  a  week.  By  lucky  sales  of  some  of  the  securities 
that  had  been  hypothecated  they  managed  to  save 
a  little;  but,  on  the  whole,  it  was  what  Percival 
described  it,  "  a  lovely  autopsy." 

At  last  the  vexatious  work  was  finished,  and  he 
was  free  again.  At  the  end  of  the  final  day's  work 
he  left  the  office  of  Fonts  in  Wall  Street,  and  walked 
up  Broadway.  He  went  slowly,  enjoying  the  free 
dom  from  care.  It  was  the  afternoon  of  a  day 
when  the  first  summer  heat  had  been  felt,  and  as 
he  loitered  before  shop  windows  or  walked  slowly 
through  that  street  where  all  move  quickly  and  most 
very  hurriedly,  a  welcome  little  breeze  came  up  from 
the  bay  to  fan  him  and  encourage  his  spirit  of 
leisure. 

At  Union  Square,  when  he  would  have  taken  a 
car  to  go  the  remainder  of  the  distance,  he  saw 
Shepler,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Van  Geist  and  Miss 
Milbrey,  alight  from  a  victoria  and  enter  a  jew 
eller's. 

He  would  have  passed  on,  but  Miss  Milbrey  had 
seen  him,  and  stood  waiting  in  the  doorway  while 
Shepler  and  Mrs.  Van  Geist  went  on  into  the 
store. 

"  Mr.  Bines  —  I'm  so  glad !  " 


THE    SPENDERS  453 

She  stood.  Hushed  with  pleasure,  radiant  in  stuff 
of  filmy  pink,  with  little  flecks  at  her  throat  and 
waist  of  the  first  tender  green  of  new  leaves.  She 
was  unaffectedly  delighted  to"  see  him. 

"  You  are  Miss  Spring?"  he  said  when  she  had 
given  him  her  hand  —  "  and  you've  come  into  all 
your  mother  had  that  was  worth  inheriting,  haven't 
you?" 

"  Air.  Bines,  shall  we  not  see  you  now?  I  wanted 
so  much  to  talk  with  you  when  I  heard  everything. 
Would  it  be  impertinent  to  say  I  sympathised  with 
you?  " 

He  looked  over  her  shoulder,  in  where  Shepler 
and  Airs.  Van  Geist  were  inspecting  a  tray  of 
jewels. 

"Of  course  not  impertinent  —  very  kind  —  only 
I'm  really  not  in  need  of  any  sympathy  at  all.  You 
won't  understand  it ;  but  we  don't  care  so  much 
for  money  in  the  West  —  for  the  loss  of  it  —  not 
so  much  as  you  New  Yorkers  would.  Besides  we 
can  always  make  a  plenty  more." 

The  situation  \vas,  emphatically,  not  as  he  had 
so  often  dreamed  it  when  she  should  marvel,  per 
haps  regretfully,  over  his  superiority  to  her  hus 
band  as  a  money-maker.  His  only  relief  was  to 
belittle  the  importance  of  his  loss. 

"  Of  course  we've  lost  everything,  almost  —  but 
I've  not  been  a  bit  downcast  about  it.  There's  more 
where  it  came  from,  and  no  end  of  fun  going  after 
it.  I'm  looking  forward  to  the  adventures,  I  can 
tell  you.  And  every  one  will  be  glad  to  see  me 


454  THE   SPENDERS 

there;  they  won't  think  the  less  of  me,   I  assure 
you,  because  I've  made  a  fluke  here!" 

"  Surely,  Mr.  Bines,  no  one  here  could  think  less 
of  you.  Indeed,  I  think  more  of  you.  I  think  it's 
fine  and  big  to  go  back  with  such  courage.  Do  you 
know,  I  wish  I  were  a  man  —  I'd  show  them!" 

"  Really,   Miss   Milbrey  - 

He  looked  over  her  shoulder  again,  and  saw  that 
Shepler  was  waiting  for  her. 

"  I  think  your  friends  are  impatient." 
'  They  can  wait.     Mr.  Bines,  I  wonder  if  you 
have  quite  a  correct  idea  of  all  New  York  people." 

"  Probably  not ;    I've  met  so  few,  you  know." 

"Well,  of  course,  —  but  of  those  you've  met?" 

"  You   can't   know   what   my   ideas   are." 

"  I  wish  we  might  have  talked  more  —  I'm  sure 
-when  are  you  leaving?" 

"  I  shall  leave  to-morrow." 

"  And  we're  leaving  for  the  country  ourselves. 
Papa  and  mamma  go  to-morrow  —  and,  Mr.  Bines, 
I  should  have  liked  another  talk  with  you  —  I  wish 
we  were  dining  at  the  Oldakers'  again." 

He  observed  Shepler  strolling  toward  them. 

"  I  shall  be  staying  with  Aunt  Cornelia  a  few 
days  after  to-morrow." 

Shepler  came  up. 

"  And  I  shall  be  leaving  to-morrow,  Miss  Mil 
brey." 

"  Ah,  Bines,  glad  to  see  you !  " 

The  accepted  lover  looked  Miss  Milbrey  over 
with  rather  a  complacent  air  —  with  the  unruffled 


THE    SPENDERS  455 

confidence  of  assured  possession.  Percival  fancied 
there  was  a  look  almost  of  regret  in  the  girl's  eyes. 

"  I'm  afraid,"  said  Shepler,  "  your  aunt  doesn't 
want  to  be  kept  waiting.  And  she's  already  in  a 
fever  for  fear  3^011  won't  prefer  the  necklace  she  in 
sists  you  ought  to  prefer." 

"  Tell  Aunt  Cornelia,  please,  that  I  shall  be  along 
in  just  a  moment.''' 

"  She's  quite  impatient,  you  know,"  urged  Shep 
ler. 

Percival  extended  his  hand. 

"  Good-bye,  Miss  Milbrey.  Don't  let  me  detain 
you.  Sorry  I  shall  not  see  you  again." 

She  gave  him  her  hand  uncertainly,  as  if  she  had 
still  something  to  say,  but  could  find  no  words  for  it. 

"  Good-bye,  Mr.  Bines." 

"  Good-bye,  young  man,"  Shepler  shook  hands 
with  him  cordially,  "  and  the  best  of  luck  to  you 
out  there.  I  shall  hope  to  hear  good  reports  from 
you.  And  mind,  you're  to  look  us  up  when  you're 
in  town  again.  We  shall  always  be  glad  to  see 
you.  Good-bye !  " 

He  led  the  girl  back  to  the  case  where  the  largest 
diamonds  reposed  chastely  on  their  couches  of  royal 
velvet. 

Percival  smiled  as  he  resumed  his  walk  —  smiled 
with  all  that  bitter  cynicism  which  only  youth  may 
feel  to  its  full  poignance.  Yet,  heartless  as  she  was, 
he  recalled  that  while  she  talked  to  him  he  had  im 
printed  an  imaginary  kiss  deliberately  upon  her  full 
scarlet  lips.  And  now,  too,  he  was  forced  to  con- 


456  THE    SPENDERS 

fess  that,  in  spite  of  his  very  certain  knowledge 
about  her,  he  would  actually  prefer  to  have  commu 
nicated  it  through  the  recognised  physical  media. 
He  laughed  again,  more  cheerfully. 

"  The  spring  has  gotten  a  strangle-hold  on  my 
judgment,"  he  said  to  himself. 

At  dinner  that  night  he  had  the  company  of  that 
estimable  German  savant,  the  Herr  Doctor  von 
Herzlich.  He  did  not  seek  to  incur  the  experience, 
but  the  amiable  doctor  was  so  effusive  and  interested 
that  he  saw  no  way  of  avoiding  it  gracefully.  Re 
turned  from  his  archaeological  expedition  to  Central 
America,  the  doctor  was  now  on  his  way  back  to 
Marburg. 

"  I  pleasure  much  in  your  news,"  said  the  cheer 
ful  man  over  his  first  glass  of  Rhine  wine  with  the 
olive  in  it.  "  You  shall  now,  if  I  have  misappre 
hended  you  not,  develop  a  new  strongness  of  the 
character." 

Percival  resigned  himself  to  listen.  He  was  not 
unfamiliar  with  the  lot  of  one  who  dines  with  the 
learned  Von  Herzlich. 

"  Now  he's  off,"  he  said  to  himself. 

"  Ach !  It  is  but  now  that  you  shall  begin  to  live. 
Is  it  not  that  while  you  planned  the  money-amassing 
you  were  deferring  to  live  —  ah,  yes  —  until  some 
day  when  you  had  so  much  more?  Yes?  A  com 
mon  thought-failure  it  is  —  a  common  failure  of  the 
to-take-thoughtedness  of  life  —  its  capacities  and 
the  intentions  of  the  scheme  under  which  we  sur 
vive.  Ach!  So  few  humans  learn  that  this  invita- 


THE   SPENDERS  457 

tion  to  live  specifies  not  the  hours,  like  a  five-o'clock, 
it  says  —  so  well  as  Father-Mother  Nature  has 
learned  to  write  the  words  to  our  unseeing  eyes  — 
'  at  once,'  but  we  ever  put  off  the  living  we  are 
invited  to  at  once  —  until  to-morrow-next  day,  next 
year  —  until  this  or  that  be  done  or  won.  So  now 
you  will  find  this  out.  Before,  you  would  have 
waited  for  a  time  that  never  came  —  no  matter  the 
all-money  you  gathered. 

"  Nor  yet,  my  young  friend,  shall  you  take  this 
matter  to  be  of  a  seriousness,  to  be  sorrow-worthy. 
If  you  take  of  the  courage,  you  shall  find  the  world 
to  smile  to  your  face,  and  father-mother  you.  You 
recall  what  the  English  Huxley  says  —  Ah !  what 
fine,  dear  man,  the  good  Huxley  —  he  says,  yes,  in 
the  '  Genealogy  of  the  Beasts/  '  It  is  a  probable 
hypothesis  that  what  the  world  is  to  organisms  in 
general,  each  organism  is  to  the  molecules  of  which 
it  is  composed.'  So  you  laugh  at  the  world,  the 
world  it  laugh  back  '  ha !  ha !  ha !  '  -  then  — 
soly  —  ail  your  little  molecules  obediently  respond 

—  you  thrill  with  the  happiness  —  with  the  power 

—  the     desire  —  the    capacity  —  you    out-go     and 
achieve.      Yes  ?     So   fret   not.      Ach !    we   fret   so 
much  of  what  it  shall  be  unwise  to  fret  of.     It  is 
funny  to  fret.     Why?     Why   fret?     Yet  but  the 
month  last,  they  have  excavated  at  Nippur,  from 
the  pre-Sargonic  strata,  a  lady  and  a  gentleman  of 
the  House  of  Ptah.    What  you  say  in  New  York  — 

'  a  damned  fine  old  family,'  yes,  is  it  not  ?     I  am 
read  their  description,  and  seen  of  the  photographs. 


458  THE    SPENDERS 

They  have  now  the  expressions  of  indifference  —  of 
disinterest  —  without  the  prejudice  —  as  if  they 
say,  '  Ach !  those  troubles  of  ours,  three  thousand 
eight  hundred  years  in  the  B.C.  —  nearly  come  to 
six  thousand  years  before  now  —  Ach !  those 
troubles/  say  this  philosophic-now  lady  and  gentle 
man,  of  the  House  of  Ptah  of  Babylonia  —  '  such  a 
silliness  —  those  troubles  and  frets ;  it  was  not  the 
while-worth  that  we  should  ever  have  sorrowed,  be 
cause  the  scheme  of  time  and  creation  is  suchly 
big;  had  we  grasped  but  its  bigness,  and  the  little 
ness  of  our  span,  should  we  have  felt  griefs  ?  Nay, 
nay  —  nit,'  like  the  street-youths  say  —  would  say 
the  lady  and  gentleman  now  so  passionless  as  to 
have  philosophers  become.  And  you,  it  should  mean 
to  you  much.  Humans  are  funniest  when  they 
weep  and  tremble  before,  like  you  say,  '  the  facts  in 
the  case.'  Ha !  I  laugh  to  myself  at  them  often 
when  I  observe.  Their  funniness  of  the  beards  and 
eyebrows,  the  bald  head,  of  the  dress,  the  solem 
nities  of  manner,  as  it  were  they  were  persons  of 
weight.  Ah,  they  are  of  their  insignificance  so 
loftily  unconscious.  Was  it  not  great  skill  —  to 
compel  the  admiration  of  the  love-worthiest  scientist 
—  to  create  a  unit  of  a  numberless  mass  of  units 
and  then  to  enable  it  to  feel  each  one  the  importance 
of  the  whole,  as  if  each  part  were  big  as  the  whole? 
So  you  shall  not  fret  I  say. 

"  If  the  fret  invade  you,  you  shall  do  well  to  lie 
out  in  the  friendly  space,  and  look  at  this  small  top- 
spinning  of  a  world  through  the  glass  that  reduces. 


THE    SPENDERS  459 

Yes  ?  You  had  thought  it  of  such  bigness  —  its 
concerns  of  a  sublime  tragicness?  Yet  see  now, 
these  funny  little  animals  on  the  surface  of  the 
spinning-ball.  How  frantic,  as  if  all  things  were 
about  to  eventuate,  remembering  not  that  nothing 
ends.  So?  Observe  the  marks  of  their  silliness, 
their  unworthiness.  You  have  reduced  the  ball  to 
so  big  as  a  melon,  yes?  Watch  the  insects  run 
about  in  the  craziness,  laughing,  crying,  loving  their 
loves,  hating  their  hates,  fearing,  fretting  —  killing 
one  the  other  in  such  funny  little  clothes,  made  for 
such  funny  little  purpose  precisely  —  falling  sick 
over  the  money-losings  —  and  the  ball  so  small,  but 
one  of  such  many  —  as  many  stars  under  the  earth, 
remember,  as  above  it. 

"  So !  you  are  back  to  earth ;  you  are  a  human 
like  the  rest,  so  foolish,  so  funny  as  any  —  so  you 
say,  '  Well,  I  shall  not  be  more  troubled  again  yet. 
I  play  the  same  game,  but  it  is  only  a  game,  a  little 
game  to  last  an  afternoon  —  I  play  my  part  —  yes 
-  the  laughing  part,  crying  part  —  loving,  hating, 
killing  part  —  what  matter  if  I  say  it  is  good?' 
If  the  Maker  there  be  to  look  down,  what  joys  him 
most  —  the  coward  who  fears  and  frets,  and  the 
whine  makes  for  his  soul  or  body?  Ach!  no,  it  is 
the  one  who  say,  it  is  good  —  I  could  not  better 
have  done  myself  —  a  great  game,  yes  —  '  let  her 
rip/  like  you  West-people  remark  —  '  let  her  rip  — 
you  cannot  lose  me,'  like  you  say  also.  Ach,  so ! 
And  then  he  say,  the  great  Planner  of  it,  '  Ach !  I 
am  understood  at  last  —  good !  —  bright  man 


460  THE    SPENDERS 

that,'  like  you  say,  aiso  —  '  bright  man  that  —  it  is 
of  a  pleasure  to  see  him  do  well ! ' 

"  So,  my  young  friend,  you  shall  pleasure  your 
self  still  much  yet.  It  is  of  an  excellence  to  pleasure 
one's  self  judiciously.  The  lotus  is  a  leguminous 
plant  —  so  excellent  for  the  salad  —  not  for  the 
roast.  You  have  of  the  salad  overeaten  —  you  shall 
learn  of  your  successful  capacity  for  it  —  you  shall 
do  well,  then.  You  have  been  of  the  reckless  de 
portment  —  you  may  still  be  of  it.  That  is  not 
the  matter.  You  shall  be  reckless  as  you  like  —  but 
without  your  stored  energy  surplus  to  harm  you. 
Your  environment  from  the  now  demands  of  you 
the  faculties  you  will  most  pleasure  yourself  in  de 
veloping.  You  shall  produce  what  you  consume. 
The  gods  love  such.  Ach,  yes !  " 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

Some  Phenomena  Peculiar  to  Spring 

HE  awoke  early,  refreshed  and  intensely  alive. 
With  the  work  done  he  became  conscious  of 
a  feeling  of  disassociation  from  the  sur 
roundings  in  which  he  had  so  long  been  at  home. 
Many  words  of  the  talkative  German  were  run 
ning  in  his  mind  from  the  night  before.  He  was 
glad  the  business  was  off  his  mind.  He  would  now 
go  the  pleasant  journey,  and  think  on  the  way. 

His  trunks  were  ready  for  the  car;  and  before 
he  went  down-stairs  his  hand-bag  was  packed,  and 
the  preparations  for  the  start  completed. 

When,  after  his  breakfast,  he  read  the  telegram 
announcing  that  the  car  had  been  delayed  twenty- 
four  hours  in  Chicago,  he  was  bored  by  the  thought 
that  he  must  pass  another  day  in  New  York.  He 
was  eager  now  to  be  off,  and  the  time  would  hang 
heavily. 

He  tried  to  recall  some  forgotten  detail  of  the 
business  that  might  serve  to  occupy  him.  But  the 
finishing  had  been  thorough. 

He  ran  over  in  his  mind  the  friends  with  whom 
he  could  spend  the  time  agreeably.  He  could  recall 

461 


462  THE    SPENDERS 

no  one  he  cared  to  see.  He  had  no  longer  an  interest 
in  the  town  or  its  people. 

He  went  aimlessly  out  on  to  Broadway  in  the  full 
flood  of  a  spring  morning,  breathing  the  fresh  air 
hungrily.  It  turned  his  thought  to  places  out  of  the 
grime  and  clamour  of  the  city ;  to  woods  and  fields 
where  he  might  rest  and  feel  the  stimulus  of  his 
new  plans.  He  felt  aloof  and  sufficient  unto  himself. 

He  swung  on  to  an  open  car  bound  north,  and 
watched  without  interest  the  early  quick-moving 
workers  thronging  south  on  the  street,  and  crowding 
the  cars  that  passed  him.  At  Forty-second  Street, 
he  changed  to  a  Boulevard  car  that  took  him  to  the 
Fort  Lee  Ferry  at  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth 
Street. 

Out  on  the  shining  blue  river  he  expanded  his 
lungs  to  the  clean,  sweet  air.  Excursion  boats,  flut 
tering  gay  streamers,  worked  sturdily  up  the  stream. 
Little  yachts,  in  fresh-laundered  suits  of  canvas, 
darted  across  their  bows  or  slanted  in  their  wakes, 
looking  like  white  butterflies.  The  vivid  blue  of  the 
sky  was  flecked  with  bits  of  broken  fleece,  scurrying 
like  the  yachts  below.  Across  the  river  was  a  high- 
towering  bank  of  green  inviting  him  over  its  summit 
to  the  languorous  freshness  beyond. 

He  walked  off  the  boat  on  the  farther  side  and 
climbed  a  series  of  steep  wooden  stairways,  past  a 
tiny  cataract  that  foamed  its  way  down  to  the  river. 
When  he  reached  the  top  he  walked  through  a 
stretch  of  woods  and  turned  off  to  the  right,  down 
a  cool  shaded  road  that  wound  away  to  the  north 
through  the  fresh  greens  of  oak  and  chestnut. 


THE    SPENDERS  463 

He  was  entranced  at  once  by  the  royal  abandon 
of  spring,  this  wondrous  time  of  secret  beginnings 
made  visible.  The  old  earth  was  become  as  a  young 
wife  from  the  arms  of  an  ardent  spouse,  blushing 
into  new  life  and  beauty  for  the  very  joy  of  love. 
He  breathed  the  dewy  freshness,  and  presently  he 
whistled  the  "  Spring  Song  "  of  Mendelssohn,  that 
bubbling,  half-joyous,  half-plaintive  little  prayer  in 
melody. 

He  was  well  into  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  place. 
His  soul  sang.  The  rested  muscles  of  his  body  and 
mind  craved  the  resistance  of  obstacles.  He  re 
joiced.  He  had  been  wise  to  leave  the  city  for  the 
fresh,  unspoiled  country  —  the  city  \vith  all  its 
mean  little  fears,  its  petty  immoralities,  and  its  very 
trifling  great  concerns.  He  did  not  analyse,  more 
than  to  remember,  once,  that  the  not  reticent  Ger 
man  would  approve  his  mood.  He  had  sought  the 
soothing  quiet  with  the  unfailing  instinct  of  the 
wounded  animal. 

The  mysterious  green  life  in  the  woods  at  either 
side  allured  him  with  its  furtive  pulsing.  But  he 
kept  to  the  road  and  passed  on.  He  was  not  yet 
far  enough  from  the  town. 

Some  words  from  a  little  song  ran  in  his  mind  as 
he  walked : 

"  The  naked  boughs  into  green  leaves  slipped, 
The  longing  buds  into  flowers  tripped, 
The  little  hills  smiled  as  if  they  were  glad, 
The  little  rills  ran  as  if  they  were  mad. 


464  THE    SPENDERS 

"  There  was  green  on  the  earth  and  blue  in  the  sky, 
The  chrysalis  changed  to  a  butterfly, 
And  our  lovers,  the  honey-bees,  all  a-hum, 
To  hunt  for  our  hearts  began  to  come." 


When  he  came  to  a  village  with  an  electric  car 
clanging  through  it,  he  skirted  its  borders,  and 
struck  off  through  a  woodland  toward  the  river. 
Even  the  village  was  too  human,  too  modern,  for 
his  early-pagan  mood. 

In  the  woods  he  felt  that  curious  thrill  of  stealth, 
that  impulse  to  cautious  concealment,  which  sur 
vives  in  man  from  the  remote  days  when  enemies 
beset  his  forest  ways.  On  a  southern  hillside  he 
found  a  dogwood-tree  with  its  blossomed  firmament 
of  white  stars.  In  low,  moist  places  the  violets  had 
sprung  through  the  thatch  of  leaves  and  were  sing 
ing  their  purple  beauties  all  unheard.  Birds  \vere 
nesting,  and  squirrels  chattered  and  scolded. 

Under  these  more  obvious  signs  and  sounds  went 
the  steady  undertone  of  life  in  root  and  branch  and 
unfurling  leaf  —  provoking,  inciting,  making  law 
less  whomsoever  it  thrilled. 

He  came  out  of  the  wood  on  to  another  road 
that  ran  not  far  from  the  river,  and  set  off  again 
to  the  north  along  the  beaten  track. 

In  an  old-fashioned  garden  in  front  of  a  small 
house  a  girl  bent  over  a  flower  bed,  working  with 
a  trowel. 

He  stopped  and  looked  at  her  over  the  palings. 
She  was  freshly  pretty,  with  yellow  hair  blown 


THE    SPENDERS  465 

about  her  face  under  the  pushed  back  sunbonnet 
of  blue.  The  look  in  her  blue  eyes  was  the  look  of 
one  who  had  heard  echoes ;  who  had  awakened  with 
the  spring  to  new  life  and  longings,  mysterious  and 
unwelcome,  but  compelling. 

She  stood  up  when  he  spoke;  her  sleeves  were 
turned  prettily  back  upon  her  fair  round  arms. 

"  Yes,  the  road  turns  to  the  left,  a  bit  ahead." 

She  was  blushing. 

"  You  are  planting  flower  seeds." 

"  Yes;  so  many  flowers  were  killed  by  the  cold 
last  winter." 

"I  see;  there  must  a  lot  of  them  have  died  here, 
but  their  souls  didn't  go  far,  did  they  now?  " 

She  went  to  digging  again  in  the  black  moist 
earth.  He  lingered.  The  girl  worked  on,  and  her 
blush  deepened.  He  felt  a  lawless  impulse  to  vault 
the  palings,  and  carry  her  off  to  be  a  flower  for 
ever  in  some  wooded  glade  near  by.  He  dismissed 
it  as  impracticable.  His  intentions  would  probably 
be  misconstrued. 

"  I  hope  your  garden  will  thrive.  It  has  a  pretty 
pattern  to  follow." 

"Thank  you!" 

He  raised  his  hat  and  passed  on,  thinking;  think 
ing  of  all  the  old  dead  flowers,  and  their  pretty 
souls  that  had  gone  to  bloom  in  the  heaven  of  the 
maid's  face. 

Before  the  road  turned  to  the  left  he  found  a  path 
leading  over  to  the  top  of  the  palisade.  There  on  a 
little  rocky  shelf,  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  river, 


466  THE   SPENDERS 

he  lay  a  long  time  in  the  spring  sun,  looking  over 
to  the  farther  shore,  where  the  city  crept  to  the 
south,  and  lost  its  sharp  lines  in  the  smoky  distance. 
There  he  smoked  and  gave  himself  up  to  the 
moment.  He  was  glad  to  be  out  of  that  rush.  He 
could  see  matters  more  clearly  now  —  appraise 
values  more  justly.  He  was  glad  of  everything 
that  had  come.  Above  all,  glad  to  go  back  and  carry 
on  that  big  work  of  his  father's  —  his  father  who 
had  done  so  much  to  redeem  the  wilderness  —  and 
incidentally  he  would  redeem  his  own  manhood. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  young  man  frequently 
expressed  himself  with  regrettable  inelegance;  that 
he  habitually  availed  himself,  indeed,  of  a  most  in 
felicitous  species  of  metaphor.  It  must  not  be  sup 
posed  that  this  spring  day  in  the  spring  places  had 
reformed  his  manner  of  delivery.  When  he  chose 
to  word  his  emotions  it  was  still  done  in  a  manner 
to  make  the  right-spoken  grieve.  Thus,  going  back 
toward  the  road,  after  reviewing  his  great  plans  for 
the  future,  he  spoke  aloud :  "  I  believe  it's  going  to 
be  a  good  game." 

When  he  became  hungry  he  thought  with  relief 
that  he  would  not  be  compelled  to  seek  one  of  those 
"  hurry-up "  lunch  places  with  its  clamour  and 
crowd.  What  was  the  use  of  all  that  noise  and 
crowding  and  piggish  hurry?  A  remark  of  the 
German's  recurred  to  him  : 

"It  is  a  happy  man  who  has  divined  the  leisure 
of  eternity,  so  he  feels  it,  like  what  you  say,  '  in 
his  bones.'  " 


THE    SPENDERS  467 

When  he  came  out  on  the  road  again  he  thought 
regretfully  of  the  pretty  girl  and  her  flower  bed. 
He  would  have  liked  to  go  back  and  suggest  that 
she  sing  to  the  seeds  as  she  put  them  to  sleep  in  their 
earth  cradle,  to  make  their  awakening  more  beau 
tiful. 

But  he  turned  down  the  road  that  led  away  from 
the  girl,  and  when  he  came  to  a  "  wheelman's  rest," 
he  ate  many  sandwiches  and  drank  much  milk. 

The  face  of  the  maid  that  served  him  had  been 
no  heaven  for  the  souls  of  dead  flowers.  Still  she 
was  a  girl;  and  no  girl  could  be  wholly  without 
importance  on  such  a  day.  So  he  thought  the  things 
he  would  have  said  to  her  if  matters  had  been 
different. 

When  he  had  eaten,  he  loafed  off  again  down  the 
road.  Through  the  long  afternoon  he  walked  and 
lazed,  turning  into  strange  lanes  and  by-roads,  rest 
ing  on  grassy  banks,  and  looking  far  up.  He  fol 
lowed  Doctor  von  Herzlich's  directions,  and,  going 
off  into  space,  reduced  the  earth,  watching  its  little 
continents  and  oceans  roll  toward  him,  and  viewing 
the  antics  of  its  queer  inhabitants  in  fancy  as  he 
had  often  in  fact  viewed  a  populous  little  ant-hill, 
with  its  busy,  serious  citizens.  Then  he  would 
venture  still  farther  —  away  out  into  timeless 
space,  beyond  even  the  starry  refuse  of  creation,  and 
insolently  regard  the  universe  as  a  tiny  cloud  of  dust. 

When  the  shadows  stretched  in  the  dusky  languor 
of  the  spring  evening,  he  began  to  take  his  bearings 
for  the  return.  He  heard  the  hum  and  clang  of  an 
electric  car  off  through  a  chestnut  grove. 


468  THE    SPENDERS 

The  sound  disturbed  him,  bringing  premonitions 
of  the  city's  unrest.  He  determined  to  stay  out  for 
the  night.  It  was  restful  —  his  car  would  not  arrive 
until  late  the  next  afternoon  —  there  was  no  reason 
why  he  should  not.  He  found  a  little  wayside  hotel 
whose  weather-beaten  sign  was  ancient  enough  to 
promise  "  entertainment  for  man  and  beast." 

"  Just  what  I  want,"  he  declared.  "  I'm  both 
of  them  —  man  and  beast." 

Together  they  ate  tirelessly  of  young  chickens 
broiled,  and  a  green  salad,  and  a  wonderful  pie,  with 
a  bottle  of  claret  that  had  stood  back  of  the  clingy 
little  bar  so  long  that  it  had  attained,  at  least  as  to 
its  label,  a  very  fair  antiquity. 

This  time  the  girl  was  pretty  again,  and,  he  at 
once  discovered,  not  indisposed  to  light  conversa 
tion.  Yet  she  was  a  shallow  creature,  with  little 
mind  for  the  subtler  things  of  life  and  the  spring 
time.  He  decided  she  was  much  better  to  look  at 
than  to  talk  to.  With  a  just  appreciation  of  her 
own  charms  she  appeared  to  pose  perpetually  before 
an  imaginary  mirror,  regaling  him  and  herself  with 
new  postures,  tossing  her  brown  head,  curving  her 
supple  waist,  exploiting  her  thousand  coquetries. 
He  was  pained  to  note,  moreover,  that  she  was  more 
than  conscious  of  the  red-cheeked  youth  who  came 
in  from  the  carriage  shed,  whistling. 

When  the  man  and  the  beast  had  been  appeased 
they  sat  out  under  a  blossomed  apple-tree  and 
smoked  together  in  a  fine  spirit  of  amity. 

He  was  not  amazed  when,  in  the  gloom,  he  saw 


THE    SPENDERS  469 

the  red-cheeked  youth  with  both  arms  about  the 
girl  —  nor  was  he  shocked  at  detecting  instantly 
that  her  struggles  were  meant  to  be  futile  against 
her  assailant's  might.  The  birds  were  mating,  life 
was  forward,  and  Nature  loves  to  be  democratically 
lavish  with  her  choicest  secrets.  Why  not,  then, 
the  blooming,  full  curved  kitchen-maid  and  the  red- 
cheeked  boy-of-all-work  ? 

He  smoked  and  saw  the  night  fall.  The  dulled 
bronze  jangle  of  cow-bells  came  soothingly  to  him. 
An  owl  called  a  little  way  off.  Swallows  flashed 
by  in  long  graceful  flights.  A  bat  circled  near,  in 
decisively,  as  if  with  a  message  it  hesitated  to  give. 
Once  he  heard  the  flute-like  warble  of  a  skylark. 

He  was  under  the  clean,  sharp  stars  of  a  moonless 
night.  His  keen  senses  tasted  the  pungent  smoke 
and  the  softer  feminine  fragrance  of  the  apple- 
blossoms.  His  nerves  were  stilled  to  pleasant  ease, 
except  when  the  laugh  of  the  girl  floated  to  him 
from  the  grape-arbour  back  of  the  house.  That  dis 
turbed  him  to  fierce  longings  —  the  clear,  high 
measure  of  a  woman's  laugh  floating  to  him  in  the 
night.  And  once  she  sang  —  some  song  common  to 
her  class.  It  moved  him  as  her  laugh  did,  making 
him  vibrate  to  her,  as  when  a  practised  hand  flutters 
the  strings  of  a  harp.  He  was  glad  without  knowing 
why  when  she  stopped. 

At  ten  o'clock  he  went  in  from  under  the  peering 
little  stars  and  fell  asleep  in  an  ancient  four-poster. 
He  dreamed  that  he  had  the  world,  a  foot-ball, 
clasped  to  his  breast,  and  was  running  down  the 


470  THE   SPENDERS 

field  for  a  gain  of  a  hundred  yards.  Then,  suddenly, 
in  place  of  the  world,  it  was  Avice  Milbrey  in  his 
grasp,  struggling  frantically  to  be  free;  and  instead 
of  behaving  like  a  gentleman  he  flung  both  arms 
around  her  and  kissed  her  despite  her  struggles; 
kissed  her  time  after  time,  until  she  ceased  to  strive 
against  him,  and  lay  panting  and  helpless  in  his 
arms. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

An   Unusual  Plan  of  Action  Is  Matured 

HE  was  awakened  by  the  unaccustomed  silence. 
As  he  lay  with  his  eyes  open,  his  first  thought 
was  that  all  things  had  stopped  —  the  world 
had  come  to  its  end.  Then  remembrance  came,  and 
he  stretched  in  lazy  enjoyment  of  the  stillness  and 
the  soft  feather  bed  upon  which  he  had  slept.  Find 
ing  himself  too  wide  awake  for  more  sleep,  he  went 
over  to  the  little  gable  window  and  looked  out.  The 
unfermented  wine  of  another  spring  day  came  to 
his  eager  nostrils.  The  little  ball  had  made  another 
turn.  Its  cheek  was  coming  once  more  into  the 
light.  Already  the  east  was  flushing  with  a  won 
drous  vague  pink.  The  little  animals  in  the  city 
over  there,  he  thought,  would  soon  be  tumbling  out 
of  their  beds  to  begin  another  of  their  funny,  seri 
ous  days  of  trial  and  failure;  to  make  ready  for 
another  night  of  forgetfulness,  when  their  absurd 
little  ant-hill  should  turn  again  away  from  the  big 
blazing  star.  He  sat  a  long  time  at  the  window, 
looking  out  to  the  east,  where  the  light  was  show 
ing;  meditating  on  many  idle,  little  matters,  but 
conscious  all  the  time  of  great  power  within  him- 


472  THE    SPENDERS 

self.  He  felt  ready  now  for  any  conflict.  The 
need  for  some  great  immediate  action  pressed  upon 
him.  He  did  not  identify  it.  Something  he  must 
do  —  he  must  have  action  —  and  that  at  once.  He 
was  glad  to  think  how  Uncle  Peter  would  begin 
to  rejoice  in  him  —  secretly  at  first,  and  then  to 
praise  him.  He  was  equal  to  any  work.  He  could 
not  begin  it  quickly  enough.  That  queer  need  to 
do  something  at  once  was  still  pressing,  still  un 
identified. 

By  five  he  was  down-stairs.  The  girl,  fresh  as 
a  dew-sprayed  rose  in  the  garden  outside,  brought 
him  breakfast  of  fruit,  bacon  and  eggs,  coffee  and 
waffles.  He  ate  with  relish,  delighting  meantime  in 
the  girl's  florid  freshness,  and  even  in  the  assertive, 
triumphant  whistle  of  the  youth  busy  at  his  tasks 
outside. 

When  he  set  out  he  meant  to  reach  the  car  and 
go  back  to  town  at  once.  Yet  when  he  came  to  the 
road  over  which  he  had  loitered  the  day  before,  he 
turned  off  upon  it  with  slower  steps.  There  was  a 
confusing  whirl  of  ideas  in  his  brain,  a  chaos  that 
required  all  his  energy  to  feed  it,  so  that  the  spring 
wrent  from  his  step. 

Then  all  at  once,  a  new-born  world  cohered  out 
of  the  nebula,  and  the  sight  of  its  measured,  orderly 
whirling  dazed  him.  He  had  been  seized  with  a 
wish  —  almost  an  intention,  so  stunning  in  its 
audacity  that  he  all  but  reeled  under  the  shock.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  the  thing  must  have  been 
germinated  in  his  mind  without  his  knowledge;  it 


THE    SPENDERS  473 

had  lain  there,  gathering  force  while  he  rested,  now 
to  burst  forth  and  dazzle  him  with  its  shine.  All 
that  undimmed  freshness  of  longing  he  had  felt  the 
day  before — all  the  unnamed,  unidentified,  nameless 
desires  —  had  flooded  back  upon  him,  but  now  no 
longer  aimless.  The)-  \vere  acutely  definite.  He 
wanted  Avice  Milbrey,  —  wanted  her  with  an  in 
tensity  as  unreasoning  as  it  was  resistless.  This  was 
the  new  world  he  had  watched  swimming  out  of  the 
chaos  in  his  mind,  taking  its  allotted  orbit  in  a 
planetary  system  of  possible,  rational,  matter-of- 
course  proceedings. 

And  Avice  Milbrey  \vas  to  marry  Shepler,  the 
triumphant  money-king. 

He  sat  down  by  the  roadside,  well-nigh  helpless, 
surrendering  all  his  forces  to  the  want. 

Then  there  came  upon  him  to  reinforce  this  w^ant 
a  burning  sense  of  defeat.  He  remembered  Uncle 
Peter's  first  warnings  in  the  mine  about  "  cupboard 
love ;  "  the  gossip  of  Higbee :  "If  you  were  broke, 
she'd  have  about  as  much  use  for  you  —  "all  the 
talk  he  had  listened  to  so  long  about  marriage  for 
money;  and,  at  the  last,  Shepler's  words  to  Uncle 
Peter:  "I  was  uncertain  until  copper  went  to  51." 
Those  were  three  wise  old  men  who  had  talked, 
men  who  knew  something  of  women  and  much  of 
the  world.  And  they  were  so  irritating  in  their 
certainty.  What  a  fine  play  to  fool  them  all ! 

The  sense  of  defeat  burned  into  him  more  deeply. 
He  had  been  vanquished,  cheated,  scorned,  shame 
fully  flouted.  The  money  was  gone  —  all  of  Uncle 


474  THE   SPENDERS 

Peter's  complaints  and  biting  sarcasms  came  back 
to  him  with  renewed  bitterness ;  but  his  revenge  on 
Uncle  Peter  would  be  in  showing  him  a  big  man 
at  work,  with  no  nonsense  about  him.  But  Shepler, 
who  was  now  certain,  and  Higbee,  who  had  always 
been  certain,  —  especially  Shepler,  with  his  easy 
sense  of  superiority  with  a  woman  over  any  poor 
man.  That  was  a  different  matter.  There  was  a 
thing  to  think  about.  And  he  wanted  Avice  Mil- 
brey.  He  could  not,  he  decided,  go  back  without 
her. 

Something  of  the  old  lawless  spirit  of  adventure 
that  had  spurred  on  his  reckless  forbears  urged  him 
to  carry  the  girl  back  with  him.  She  didn't  love 
him.  He  would  take  her  in  spite  of  that;  over 
power  her;  force  her  to  go.  It  was  a  revenge  of 
superb  audacity.  Shepler  had  not  been  sure  of 
her  until  now.  Well,  Shepler  might  be  hurled  from 
that  certainty  by  one  hour  of  determined  action. 

The  great  wild  wish  narrowed  itself  into  a 
definite  plan.  He  recalled  the  story  Uncle  Peter 
had  told  at  the  Oldakers'  about  the  woman  and  her 
hair.  A  woman  could  be  coerced  if  a  man  knew  her 
weakness.  He  could  coerce  her.  He  knew  it  in 
stinctively;  and  the  instinctive  belief  rallied  to  its 
support  a  thousand  little  looks  from  her.  little  in 
tonations  of  her  voice,  little  turnings  of  her  head 
when  they  had  been  together.  In  spite  of  her  cal 
culations,  in  spite  of  her  love  of  money,  he  could 
make  her  feel  her  weakness.  He  was  a  man  with 
the  power. 


THE    SPENDERS  475 

It  was  heady  wine  for  the  morning.  He  de 
scribed  himself  briefly  as  a  lunatic,  and  walked  on 
again.  But  the  crazy  notion  would  not  be  gone. 
The  day  before  he  had  been  passive.  Now  he  was 
active,  acutely  aware  of  himself  and  all  his  wants. 
He  walked  a  mile  trying  to  dismiss  the  idea.  He 
sat  down  again,  and  it  flooded  back  upon  him  with 
new  force. 

Her  people  were  gone.  She  had  even  intimated 
a  wish  to  talk  with  him  again.  It  could  be  done 
quickly.  He  knew.  He  felt  the  primitive  superi 
ority  of  man's  mere  brute  force  over  woman.  He 
gloried  in  his  knotted  muscles  and  the  crushing 
power  of  his  desires. 

Afterward,  she  would  reproach  him  bitterly. 
They  would  both  be  unhappy.  It  was  no  matter. 
It  was  the  present,  the  time  \vhen  he  should  be 
living.  He  would  have  her,  and  Shepler  —  Shep- 
ler  might  have  had  the  One  Girl  mine  —  but  this 
girl,  never! 

Again  he  tried  faithfully  to  walk  off  the  obses 
sion.  Again  were  his  essays  at  sober  reason 
unavailing. 

His  mind  was  set  as  it  had  been  when  he  bought 
the  stocks  day  after  day  against  the  advice  of  the 
best  judges  in  the  Street.  He  could  not  turn  himself 
back.  There  must  be  success.  There  could  not  be 
a  giving  up  —  and  there  must  not  be  failure. 

Hour  after  hour  he  alternately  walked  and  rested, 
combating  and  favouring  the  mad  project.  It  was 
a  foolish  little  world,  and  people  were  always  wait- 


476  THE    SPENDERS 

ing  for  another  time  to  begin  the  living  of  life. 
The  German  had  quoted  Martial :  "  To-morrow  I 
will  live,  the  fool  says ;  to-day  itself 's  too  late.  The 
wise  lived  yesterday." 

If  he  did  go  away  alone  he  knew  he  would  always 
regret  it.  If  he  carried  her  triumphantly  off,  doubt 
less  his  regret  for  that  would  eventually  be  as  great. 
The  first  regret  was  certain.  The  latter  was  equally 
plausible;  but,  if  it  came,  would  it  not  be  preferable 
to  the  other  ?  To  have  held  her  once  —  to  have 
taken  her  away,  to  have  triumphed  over  her  own 
calculations,  and,  best  of  all,  to  have  triumphed  over 
the  money-king  resting  fatuously  confident  behind 
his  wealth,  dignifying  no  man  as  rival  who  was  not 
rich.  The  present,  so,  was  more  than  any  possible 
future,  how  dire  soever  it  might  be. 

He  was  mad  to  prove  to  her  —  and  to  Shepler  — 
that  she  was  more  a  woman  than  either  had  sup 
posed,  —  a  woman  in  spite  of  herself,  weak,  un 
reasoning;  to  prove  to  them  both  that  a  determined 
man  has  a  vital  power  to  coerce  which  no  money 
may  ever  equal. 

Not  until  five  o'clock  had  he  by  turns  urged  and 
fought  himself  to  the  ferry.  By  that  time  he  had 
given  up  arguing.  He  was  dwelling  entirely  upon 
his  plan  of  action.  Strive  and  grope  as  he  would, 
the  thing  had  driven  him  on  relentlessly.  His 
reason  could  not  take  him  beyond  the  reach  of  its 
goad.  Far  as  he  went  he  loved  her  even  farther. 
She  belonged  to  him.  He  would  have  her.  He 
seemed  to  have  been  storing,  the  day  before,  a  vast 


THE    SPENDERS  477 

quantity  of  energy  that  he  was  now  drawing  lav 
ishly  upon.  For  the  time,  he  was  pure,  raw  force, 
needing,  to  be  resistless,  only  the  guidance  of  a 
definite  purpose. 

He  crossed  the  ferry  and  wrent  to  the  hotel,  where 
he  shaved  and  freshened  himsel'f.  He  found  Grant, 
the  porter,  waiting  for  him  when  he  went  down 
stairs,  and  gave  him  written  directions  to  the  rail 
road  people  to  have  the  car  attached  to  the  Chicago 
Express  leaving  at  eight  the  next  morning;  also 
instructions  about  his  baggage. 

"  I  expect  there  will  be  two  of  us,  Grant;  see  that 
the  car  is  well  stocked;  and  here,  take  this;  go  to 
a  florist's  and  get  about  four  dozen  pink  roses  —  la 
France  —  can  you  remember  ?  —  pink  —  don't  take 
any  other  colour,  and  be  sure  they're  fresh.  Have 
breakfast  ready  by  the  time  the  train  starts." 

"  Yes,  Mistah  Puhs'val!  "  said  Grant,  and  added 
to  himself,  "  Yo'  suttiny  do  ca'y  yo'se'f  mighty 
han'some,  Mistah  Man !  " 

Going  out  of  the  hotel,  he  met  Launton  Oldaker, 
with  whom  he  chatted  a  few  moments,  and  then 
bade  good-bye. 

Oldaker,  with  a  sensitive  regard  for  the  decencies, 
refrained  from  expressing  the  hearty  sympathy  he 
felt  for  a  man  who  would  henceforth  be  compelled 
to  live  out  of  the  wrorld. 

Percival  walked  out  to  Broadway,  revolving  his 
plan.  He  saw  it  was  but  six  o'clock.  He  could 
do  nothing  for  at  least  an  hour.  When  he  noted 
this  he  became  conscious  of  his  hunger.  He  had 


THE   SPENDERS 


eaten  nothing  since  morning.  He  turned  into  a 
restaurant  on  Madison  Square  and  ordered  dinner. 
When  he  had  eaten,  he  sat  with  his  coffee  for  a 
final  smoke  of  deliberation.  He  went  over  once 
more  the  day's  arguments  for  and  against  the  novel 
emprise.  He  had  become  insensible,  however,  to 
all  the  dissenting  ones.  As  a  last  rally,  he  tried 
to  picture  the  difficulties  he  might  encounter.  He 
faced  all  he  could  imagine. 

"By  God,  I'll  do  it!" 

"  Oui,  monsieur!  "  said  the  waiter,  who  had  been 
standing  dreamily  near,  startled  into  attention  by 
the  spoken  words. 

"  That's  all  —  give  me  the  check." 

As  he  went  out  the  door,  a  young  woman  passed 
him,  looking  him  straight  in  the  eyes.  From  her 
light  swishing  skirts  came  the  faint  perfume  of  the 
violet.  It  chilled  the  steel  of  his  resolution. 

He  entered  a  carriage.  It  was  a  hot,  humid  night. 
Already  the  mist  was  making  grey  softness  of  the 
air,  dulling  the  street  lights  to  ruddy  orange. 
Northward,  over  the  breast  of  Murray  Hill  a  few 
late  carriages  trickled  down  toward  him.  Their 
wheels,  when  they  passed,  made  swift  reflections 
in  the  damp  glare  of  the  asphalt. 

He  was  pent  force  waiting  to  be  translated  into 
action. 

He  drove  first  to  the  Milbrey  house,  on  the  chance 
that  she  might  be  at  home.  Jarvis  answered  his 
ring. 

"  Miss   Milbrey   is   with   Mrs.   Van   Geist,   sir." 


THE    SPENDERS  479 

Jarvis  spoke  regretfully.  He  had  reasons  of  his 
own  for  believing  that  the  severance  of  the  Milbrey 
relationship  with  Mr.  Bines  had  been  nothing  short 
of  calamitous. 

He  rang  Mrs.  Van  Geist's  bell,  five  minutes  later. 

'  The  ladies  haven't  come  back,  sir.  I  don't  know 
where  they  might  be.  Perhaps  at  the  Valners',  in 
Fifty-second  Street,  sir." 

He  rang  the  Valuers'  bell. 

"  Mrs.  Van  Geist  and  Miss  Milbrey?  They  left 
at  least  half  an  hour  ago,  sir." 

"Go  down  the  avenue  slowly,  driver!" 

At  Fortieth  Street  he  looked  down  to  the  middle 
of  the  block. 

Mrs.  Van  Geist,  alone,  was  just  alighting  from 
her  coupe. 

He  signalled  the  driver. 

"  Go  to  the  other  address  again,  in  Thirty-seventh 
Street." 

Jarvis  opened  the  door. 

"  Yes,  sir  —  thank  you,  sir  —  Miss  Milbrey  is  in, 
sir.  I'll  see,  sir." 

He  crossed  the  Rubicon  of  a  door-mat  and  stood 
in  the  unlighted  hall.  At  the  far  end  he  saw  light 
coming  from  a  door  that  he  knew  opened  into  the 
library. 

Jarvis  came  into  the  light.  Behind  him  appeared 
Miss  Milbrey  in  the  doorway. 

"  Miss  Milbrey  says  will  you  enter  the  library, 
Mr.  Bines?" 


CHAPTER   XL. 

Some  Rude  Behaviour,   of   Which   Only  a    Western 
Man   Could  Be  Guilty 

HE  walked  quickly  back.  At  the  doorway  she 
gave  him  her  hand,  which  he  took  in  silence. 
"Why — Air.  Bines!  —  you  wouldn't  have 
surprised  me  last  night.  To-night  I  pictured  you  on 
your  way  West." 

Her  gown  was  of  dull  blue  dimity.  She  still  wore 
her  hat,  an  arch  of  straw  over  her  face,  with  ripe 
red  cherries  nodding  upon  it  as  she  moved.  He 
closed  the  door  behind  him. 

"  Do  come  in.  I've  been  having  a  solitary  rum 
mage  among  old  things.  It  is  my  last  night  here. 
We're  leaving  for  the  country  to-morrow,  you 
know." 

She  stood  by  the  table,  the  light  from  a 
shaded  lamp  making  her  colour  glow. 

Now  she  noted  that  he  had  not  spoken.  She 
turned  quickly  to  him  as  if  to  question. 

He  took  a  swift  little  step  toward  her,  still  without 
speaking.  She  stepped  back  with  a  sudden  instinct 
of  fright. 

He  took  two  quick  steps  forward  and  grasped  one 
480 


THE    SPENDERS  481 

of  her  wrists.  He  spoke  in  cool,  even  tones,  but  the 
words  came  fast : 

"  I've  come  to  marry  you  to-night ;  to  take  you 
away  with  me  to  that  Western  country.  You  may 
not  like  the  life.  You  may  grieve  to  death  for  all 
I  know  —  but  you're  going.  1  won't  plead,  I  won't 
beg,  but  I  am  going  to  take  you." 

She  had  begun  to  pull  away  in  alarm  when  he 
seized  her  wrist.  His  grasp  did  not  bruise,  it  did 
not  seem  to  be  tight;  but  the  hand  that  held  it 
was  immovable. 

"  Mr.  Bines,  you  forget  yourself.  Really,  this 
is  —  '" 

"  Don't  waste  time.  You  can  say  all  that  needs 
to  be  said  —  I'll  give  you  time  for  that  before  we 
start  —  but  don't  waste  the  time  saying  all  those 
useless  things.  Don't  waste  time  telling  me  I'm 
crazy.  Perhaps  I  am.  We  can  settle  that  later." 

"Mr.  Bines  —  how  absurd!  Oh!  let  me  go! 
You're  hurting  my  wrist!  Oh!  —  don't  —  don't 
-don't!  Oh!" 

When  he  felt  the  slender  wrist  trying  to  writhe 
from  his  grasp  he  had  closed  upon  it  more  tightly, 
and  thrusting  his  other  arm  quickly  behind  her,  had 
drawn  her  closely  to  him.  Her  cries  and  pleadings 
were  being  smothered  down  on  his  breast.  Her 
struggles  met  only  the  unbending,  pitiless  resistance 
of  steel. 

"  Don't  waste  time,  I  tell  you  —  can't  you  under 
stand?  Be  sensible,  —  talk  if  you  must  —  only 
talk  sense." 


482  THE   SPENDERS 

"  Let  me  go  at  once  —  I  demand  it  —  quick  — 
oh!" 

"Take  this  hat  off!" 

He  forced  the  wrist  he  had  been  holding  down 
between  them,  so  that  she  could  not  free  the  hand, 
and,  with  his  own  hand  thus  freed,  he  drew  out  the 
two  long  hat-pins  and  flung  the  hat  with  its  storm- 
tossed  cherries  across  the  room.  Still  holding  her 
tightly,  he  put  the  free  hand  on  her  brow  and  thrust 
her  head  back,  so  that  she  was  forced  to  look  up 
at  him. 

"  Let  me  see  you  —  I  want  to  see  your  eyes  — 
they're  my  eyes  now." 

Her  head  strained  against  his  hand  to  be  down 
again,  and  all  her  strength  was  exerted  to  be  away. 
She  found  she  could  not  move  in  any  direction. 

"  Oh,  you're  hurting  my  neck.  What  shall  I  do? 
I  can't  scream  —  think  what  it  would  mean !  — 
you're  hurting  my  neck !  " 

"You  are  hurting  your  own  neck  —  stop  it!" 

He  kissed  her  face,  softly,  her  cheeks,  her  eyes, 
her  chin. 

"I've  loved  you  so  —  don't  —  what's  the  use? 
Be  sensible.  My  arms  have  starved  for  you  so  — 
do  you  think  they're  going  to  loosen  now?  Avice 
Milbrey  —  Avice  Milbrey  —  Avice  Milbrey !  " 

His  arms  tightened  about  her  as  he  said  the  name 
over  and  over. 

"  That's  poetry  —  it's  all  the  poetry  there  is  in 
the  world.  It's  a  verse  I  say  over  in  the  night.  You 
can't  understand  it  yet  —  it's  too  deep  for  you.  It 


THE    SPENDERS  483 

means  I  must  have  you  —  and  the  next  verse  means 
that  you  must  have  me  —  a  poor  man  —  be  a  poor 
man's  wife  —  and  all  the  other  verses  —  millions 
of  them  —  mean  that  I'll  never  give  you  up  —  and 
there's  a  lot  more  verses  for  you  to  write,  when 
you  understand  —  meaning  that  you'll  never  give 
me  up  —  and  there's  one  in  the  beginning  means  I'm 
going  to  carry  you  out  and  marry  you  to-night  — 
now,  do  you  understand?  —  right  off  —  this  very 
night !  " 

"Oh!  Oh!  this  is  so  terrible!  Oh,  it's  so 
awful !  " 

Her  voice  broke,  and  he  felt  her  body  quiver  with 
sobs.  Her  face  was  pitifully  convulsed,  and  tears 
welled  in  her  eyes. 

"  Let  me  go  —  let  —  me  —  go! " 

He  released  her  head,  but  still  held  her  closely  to 
him.  Her  sobs  had  become  uncontrollable. 

"  Here  —  "  he  reached  for  the  little  lace-edged 
handkerchief  that  lay  beside  her  long  gloves  and 
her  purse,  on  the  table. 

She  took  it  mechanically. 

"  Please  —  oh,  please  let  me  go  —  I  beg  you." 
She  managed  it  with  difficulty  between  the  convul 
sions  that  were  rending  her. 

He  put  his  lips  down  upon  the  soft  hair. 

"  I  won't  —  do  you  understand  that?  Stop  talk 
ing  nonsense." 

He  thought  there  would  be  no  end  to  the  sobs. 

"  Have  it  out,  dear  —  there's  plenty  of  time." 

Once  she  seemed  to  have  stopped  the  tears.     He 


484  THE    SPENDERS 

turned  her  face  up  to  his  own  again,  and  softly 
kissed  her  wet  eyes.  Her  full  lips  were  parted  be 
fore  him,  but  he  did  not  kiss  them.  The  sobs  came 
again. 

"There  —  there!  —  it  will  soon  be  over." 

At  last  she  ceased  to  cry  from  sheer  exhaustion, 
and  when,  with  his  hand  under  her  chin,  he  forced 
up  her  head  again,  she  looked  at  him  a  full  minute 
and  then  closed  her  eyes. 

He  kissed  their  lids. 

There  came  from  time  to  time  the  involuntary 
quick  little  indrawings  of  breath,  —  the  aftermath 
of  her  weeping. 

He  held  her  so  for  a  time,  while  neither  spoke. 
She  had  become  too  weak  to  struggle. 

"  My  arms  have  starved  for  you  so,"  he  mur 
mured.  She  gave  no  sign. 

"  Come  over  here."  He  led  her,  unresisting, 
around  to  the  couch  at  the  other  side  of  the  table. 

"  Sit  here,  and  we'll  talk  it  over  sensibly,  before 
you  get  ready." 

When  he  released  her,  she  started  quickly  up 
toward  the  door  that  led  into  the  hall. 

"  Don't  do  that  —  please   don't   be   foolish." 

He  locked  the  door,  and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket. 
Then  he  went  over  to  the  big  folding-doors,  and 
satisfied  himself  they  were  locked  from  the  other 
side.  He  went  back  and  stood  in  front  of  her. 
She  had  watched  him  with  dumb  terror  in  her 
face. 

"  Now  we  can  talk  —  but  there  isn't  much  to  be 
said.  How  soon  can  you  be  ready?" 


THE    SPENDERS  485 

'  You  arc  crazy !  " 

"Possibly  —  believe  what  you  like." 

"How  did  you  ever  dare?     Oh,  how  awful!" 

"  If  you  haven't  passed  that  stage,  I'll  hold  you 
again." 

"  Xo,  no  —  please  don't  —  please  stand  up  again. 
Sit  over  there,  —  I  can  think  better." 

"  Think  quickly.  This  is  Saturday,  and  to-mor 
row  is  their  busy  day.  They  may  not  sit  up  late 
to-night." 

She  arose  with  a  little  shrug  of  desperation  that 
proclaimed  her  to  be  in  the  power  of  a  mad  man. 
She  looked  at  her  face  in  the  oval  mirror,  wiping 
her  eyes  and  making  little  passes  and  pats  at  her  dis 
ordered  hair.  He  went  over  to  her. 

"  No,  no  —  please  go  over  there  again.  Sit 
down  a  moment  —  let  me  think.  I'll  talk  to  you 
presently." 

There  was  silence  for  five  minutes.  He  watched 
her,  while  she  narrowed  her  eyes  in  deep  thought. 

Then  he  looked  at  his   watch. 

''  I  can  give  you  an  hour,  if  you've  anything  to 
say  before  it's  done  —  not  longer." 

She  drew  a  long  breath. 

"Mr.  Bines,  are  you  mad?  Can't  you  be  ra 
tional  ?  " 

"  I  haven't  been  irrational,  I  give  you  my  word, 
not  once  since  I  came  here." 

He  looked  at  her  steadily.  All  at  once  he  saw 
her  face  go  crimson.  She  turned  her  eyes  from  his 
with  an  effort. 


486  THE    SPENDERS 

"  I'm  going  back  to  Montana  in  the  morning. 
I  want  you  to  marry  me  to-night  —  I  won't  even 
wait  one  more  day  —  one  more  hour.  I  know  it's 
a  thing  you  never  dreamt  of  —  marrying  a  poor 
man.  You'll  look  at  it  as  the  most  disgraceful  act 
of  folly  you  could  possibly  commit,  and  so  will 
every  one  else  here  —  but  you'll  do  it.  To-morrow 
at  this  time  you'll  be  half-way  to  Chicago  with  me." 

"  Mr.  Bines,  —  I'm  perfectly  reasonable  and  seri 
ous  —  I  mean  it  —  are  you  quite  sure  you  didn't 
lose  your  wits  when  you  lost  your  money?  " 

"  It  may  be  considered  a  witless  thing  to  marry 
a  girl  who  would  marry  for  money  —  but  never 
mind  that  —  I'm  used  to  taking  chances." 

She  glanced  up  at  him,  curiously. 

"  You  know  I'm  to  marry  Mr.  Shepler  the  tenth 
of  next  month." 

"  Your  grammar  is  faulty  —  tense  is  wrong  — 
You  should  say  '  was  to  have  married  Mr.  Shepler.' 
I'm  fastidious  about  those  little  things,  I  confess." 

"  How  can.you  jest?  " 

"  I  can't.  Don't  think  this  is  any  joke.  He'll 
find  out." 

"  Who  will  find  out,  —  what,  pray?  " 

"  He  will.  He's  already  said  he  was  afraid  there 
might  have  been  some  nonsense  between  you  and 
me,  because  we  talked  that  evening  at  the  Old- 
akers'.  He  told  my  grandfather  he  wasn't  at  all 
sure  of  you  until  that  day  I  lost  my  money." 

"  Oh,  I  see  —  and  of  course  you'd  like  your  re 
venge  —  carrying  me  off  from  him  just  to  hurt 
him." 


SPENDERS  487 

"  If  you  say  that  I'll  hold  you  in  my  arms  again." 
He  started  toward  her.  "  I've  loved  you  so,  I  tell 
you  —  all  the  time  —  all  the  time." 

"  Or  perhaps  it's  a  brutal  revenge  on  me,  —  after 
thinking  I'd  only  marry  for  money." 

"  I've  loved  you  always,  I  tell  you." 

He  came  up  to  her,  more  gently  now,  and 
took  up  her  hand  to  kiss  it.  He  saw  the  ring. 

"  Take  his  ring  off!  " 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  an  amused  little  smile, 
but  did  not  move.  He  reached  for  the  hand,  and 
she  put  it  behind  her. 

"  Take  it  off,"  he  said,  harshly. 

He  forced  her  hand  out,  took  off  the  ring  with 
its  gleaming  stone,  none  too  gently,  and  laid  it 
on  the  table  behind  him.  Then  he  covered  the  hand 
with  kisses. 

"  Now  it's  my  hand.  Perhaps  there  wras  a  little 
of  both  those  feelings  you  accuse  me  of  —  perhaps 
I  did  want  to  triumph  over  both  you  and  Shepler  — 
and  the  other  people  who  said  you'd  never  marry 
for  anything  but  money  —  but  do  you  think  I'd 
have  had  either  one  of  those  desires  if  I  hadn't 
loved  you?  Do  you  think  I'd  have  cared  how 
many  Sheplers  you  married  if  I  hadn't  loved 
you  so,  night  and  day?  —  always  turning  to  you 
in  spite  of  everything,  -  -  loving  you  always,  under 
everything  —  always,  I  tell  you." 

"  Under  what  —  what  '  everything  '  ?  " 

"  When  I  was  sure  you  had  no  heart  —  that  you 
couldn't  care  for  any  man  except  a  rich  man  —  that 
you  would  marry  only  for  money." 


488  THE   SPENDERS 

"  You  thought  that?  " 

"  Of  course  I  thought  it.'' 

"  What  has  changed  you?  " 

"  Nothing.  I'm  going  to  change  it  now  by  prov 
ing  differently.  I  shall  take  you  against  your  will 
—  but  I  shall  make  you  love  me  —  in  the  end.  1 
know  you  —  you're  a  woman,  in  spite  of  yourself!  " 

"  You  were  entirely  right  about  me.  I  would 
even  have  married  you  because  of  the  money  - 

"  Tell  me  what  it  is  you're  holding  back  —  don't 
wait." 

"  Let  me  think  —  don't  talk,  please !  " 

She  sat  a  long  time  silent,  motionless,  her  eyes 
fixed  ahead.  At  length  she  stirred  herself  to  speak. 

"  You  were  right  about  me,  partly  —  and  partly 
wrong.  I  don't  think  I  can  make  you  understand. 
I've  always  wanted  so  much  from  life  —  so  much 
more  than  it  seemed  possible  to  have.  The  only 
thing  for  a  girl  in  my  position  and  circumstances 
was  to  make  what  is  called  a  good  marriage.  I 
wanted  what  that  would  bring,  too.  I  was  torn 
between  the  desires  —  or  rather  the  natural  instincts 
and  the  trained  desires.  I  had  ideals  about  loving 
and  being  loved,  and  I  had  the  material  ideals  of 
my  experience  in  this  world  out  here. 

"  I  was  untrue  to  each  by  turns.  Here  —  I  want 
to  show  you  something." 

She  took  up  a  book  with  closely  written  pages. 

"  I  came  here  to-night  —  I  won't  conceal  from 
you  that  I  thought  of  you  when  I  came.  It  was 
my  last  time  here,  and  you  had  gone,  I  supposed. 


THE    SPENDERS  489 

Among  other  things  I  had  out  this  old  diary  to 
burn,  and  1  had  found  this,  written  on  my  eight 
eenth  birthday,  when  I  came  out  —  the  fond,  ro 
mantic,  secret  ideal  of  a  foolish  girl  —  listen : 

"  '  The  Soul  of  Love  wed  the  Soul  of  Truth  and 
their  daughter,  Joy,  was  born :  who  was  immortal 
and  in  whom  they  lived  for  ever !  ' 

"  You  see  • —  that  was  the  sort  of  moonshine  I 
started  in  to  live.  Two  or  three  times  I  was  a  griev 
ous  disappointment  to  my  people,  and  once  or  twice, 
perhaps,  I  was  disappointed  myself.  I  was  never 
quite  sure  what  I  wanted.  But  if  you  think  I  was 
consistently  mercenary  you  are  mistaken. 

"  I  shall  tell  you  something  more  —  something  no 
one  knows.  There  was  a  man  I  met  while  that  ideal 
was  still  strong  and  beautiful  to  me  —  but  after  I'd 
come  to  see  that  here,  in  this  life,  it  was  not  easily 
to  be  kept.  He  was  older  than  I,  experienced  with 
women  —  a  lover  of  women,  I  came  to  understand 
in  time.  I  was  a  novelty  to  him,  a  fresh  recreation 
—  he  enjoyed  all  those  romantic  ideals  of  mine.  I 
thought  then  he  loved  me,  and  I  worshipped  him. 
He  was  married,  but  constantly  said  he  was  about 
to  leave  his  wife,  so  she  would  divorce  him.  I 
promised  to  come  to  him  when  it  was  done.  He 
had  married  for  money  and  he  would  have  been 
poor  again.  I  didn't  mind  in  the  least.  I  tell  you 
this  to  show  you  that  I  could  have  loved  a  poor 
man,  not  only  well  enough  to  marry  him,  but  to 
break  with  the  traditions,  and  brave  the  scandal  of 
going  to  him  in  that  common  way.  With  all  I  felt 


490  THE    SPENDERS 

for  him  I  should  have  been  more  than  satisfied.  But 
I  came  in  time  to  see  that  he  was  not  as  earnest 
as  I  had  been.  He  wasn't  capable  of  feeling  what 
I  felt.  He  was  more  cowardly  than  I  —  or  rather, 
I  was  more  reckless  than  he.  I  suspected  it  a  long 
time;  I  became  convinced  of  it  a  year  ago  and  a 
little  over.  He  became  hateful  to  me.  I  had  wasted 
my  love.  Then  he  became  funny.  But  —  you  see 
—  I  am  not  altogether  what  you  believed  me.  Wait 
a  bit  longer,  please. 

"  Then  I  gave  up,  almost  —  and  later,  I  gave  up 
entirely.  And  when  my  brother  was  about  to  marry 
that  woman,  and  Mr.  Shepler  asked  me  to  marry 
him,  I  consented.  It  seemed  an  easy  way  to  end  it 
all.  I'd  quit  fondling  ideals.  And  you  had  told 
me  I  must  do  anything  I  could  to  keep  Fred  from 
marrying  that  woman  —  my  people  came  to  say  the 
same  thing  —  and  so  —  ' 

"  If  he  had  married  her  —  if  they  were  married 
now  —  then  you  would  feel  free  to  marry  me  ?  " 

"  You  would  still  be  the  absurdest  man  in  New 
York  —  but  we  can't  discuss  that.  He  isn't  going 
to  marry  her." 

"  But  he  has  married  her  — 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  supposed  you  knew  —  Oldaker  told  me  as  I 
left  the  hotel.  He  and  your  father  were  witnesses. 
The  marriage  took  place  this  afternoon  at  the 
Arlingham." 

"  You're  not  deceiving  me?  " 

"  Come,  come !  —  girl!  " 


THE   SPENDERS  491 

"  Oh,  pardon  me !  please !  Of  course  I  didn't  mean 
it  —  but  you  stunned  me.  And  papa  said  nothing 
to  me  about  it  before  he  left.  The  money  must  have 
been  too  great  a  temptation  to  him  and  to  Fred.  She 
has  just  made  some  enormous  amount  in  copper 
stock  or  something." 

"  I  know,  she  had  better  advice  than  I  had.  I'd 
like  to  reward  the  man  who  gave  it  to  her." 

"  And  I  was  sure  you  were  going  to  marry  that 
other  woman." 

"How  could  you  think  so?" 

"  Of  course  I'm  not  the  least  bit  jealous  —  it  isn't 
my  disposition;  but  I  did  think  Florence  Akemit 
wasn't  the  woman  to  make  you  happy  —  of  course 
I  liked  her  immensely  —  and  there  were  reports 
going  about  —  everybody  seemed  so  sure  —  and 
you  were  with  her  so  much.  Oh,  how  I  did  hate 
her!" 

"  I  tell  you  she  is  a  joke  and  always  was." 

"  It's  funny  —  that's  exactly  what  I  told  Aunt 
Cornelia  about  that  —  that  man." 

"  Let's  stop  joking,  then." 

"  How  absurd  you  are  —  with  my  plans  all 
made  and  the  day  set  - 

There  was  a  knock  at  the  door.  He  went  over 
and  unlocked  it.  Jarvis  was  there. 

"  Mr.  Shepler,  Miss  Avice." 

They  looked  at  each  other. 

"  Jarvis,  shut  that  door  and  wait  outside." 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Bines." 

"  You  can't  see  him." 


492  THE    SPENDERS 

"  But  I  must,  —  we're  engaged,  don't  you  under 
stand?  —  of  course  I  must !  " 

"  I  tell  you  I  won't  let  you.  Can't  you  understand 
that  I'm  not  talking  idly?  " 

She  tried  to  evade  him  and  reach  the  door,  but 
she  was  caught  again  in  his  arms  —  held  close  to 
him. 

"  If  you  like  he  shall  come  in  now.  But  he's  not 
going  to  take  you  away  from  me,  as  he  did  in  that 
jeweller's  the  other  night  —  and  you  can't  see  him 
at  all  except  as  you  are  now." 

She  struggled  to  be  free. 

"Oh,  you're  so  brutal!" 

"  I  haven't  begun  yet  — 

He  drew  her  toward  the  door. 

"  Oh,  not  that  —  don't  open  it  —  I'll  tell  him  - 
yes,  I  will!  " 

"  I'm  taking  no  more  chances,  and  the  time  is 
short." 

Still  holding  her  closely  with  one  arm,  he  opened 
the  door.  The  man  stared  impassively  above  their 
heads  —  a  graven  image  of  unconsciousness. 

"  Jarvis." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Miss  Milbrey  wishes  you  to  say  to  Mr.  Shepler 
that  she  is  engaged  —  ' 

"  That  I'm  ill,"  she  interrupted,  still  making  little 
struggles  to  twist  from  his  grasp,  her  head  still  bent 
down. 

"  That  she  is  engaged  with  Mr.  Bines,  Jarvis, 
and  can't  see  him.  Say  it  that  way  —  '  Miss  Mil 
brey  is  engaged  with  Mr.  Bines,  and  can't  see  you.'  ' 


'''       Ay  IT  THAT  WAY  -MISS  MILBREY  IS  ENGAGED   H'fTH 


MR.   BfNES  AND  CAN'T  SEE    YOU.'" 


THE    SPENDERS  493 

"Yes,  sir!" 

He  remained  standing  motionless,  as  he  had  been, 
his  eyes  still  fixed  above  them.  But  the  eyes  of 
Jarvis,  from  long  training,  did  not  require  to  be 
bent  upon  those  things  they  needed  to  observe. 
They  saw  something  now  that  was  at  least  two  feet 
below  their  range. 

The  girl  made  a  little  move  with  her  right  arm, 
which  was  imprisoned  fast  between  them,  and  which 
some  intuition  led  her  captor  not  to  restrain.  The 
firm  little  hand  worked  its  way  slowly  up,  went 
creepingly  over  his  shoulder  and  bent  tightly  about 
his  neck. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  repeated  Jarvis,  without  the  quiver 
of  an  eyelid,  and  went. 

He  closed  the  door  with  his  free  hand,  and  they 
stood  as  they  were  until  they  heard  the  noise  of  the 
front  door  closing  and  the  soft  retreating  footsteps 
of  the  butler. 

"Oh,  you  were  mean  —  mean  —  to  shame  me 
so,"  and  floods  of  tears  came  again. 

"  I  hated  to  do  it,  but  I  had  to;  it  was  a  critical 
moment.  And  you  couldn't  have  made  up  your 
mind  without  it." 

She  sobbed  weakly  in  his  arms,  but  her  own  arm 
was  still  tight  about  his  neck.  He  felt  it  for  the 
first  time. 

"  But  I  had  made  up  my  mind  —  I  did  make  it 
up  while  we  talked." 

They  were  back  on  the  couch.  He  held  her  close 
and  she  no  longer  resisted,  but  nestled  in  his  arms 


494  THE    SPENDERS 

with  quick  little  sighs,  as  if  relieved  from  a  great 
strain.  He  kissed  her  forehead  and  hair  as  she 
dried  her  eyes. 

"  Now,  rest  a  little.     Then  we  shall  go." 

"  I've  so  much  to  tell  you.  That  day  at  the  jew 
eller's  —  well,  what  could  I  do  but  take  one  poor 
last  little  look  of  you  —  to  keep  ?  " 

"  Tell  me  if  you  care  for  me." 

"  Oh,  I  do,  I  do,  I  do  care  for  you.  I  have  — 
ever  since  that  day  we  walked  in  the  woods.  I  do, 
I  do!" 

She  threw  her  head  back  and  gave  him  her  lips. 

She  was  crying  again  and  trying  to  talk. 

"  I  did  care  for  you,  and  that  day  I  thought  you 
were  going  to  say  something,  but  you  didn't  —  you 
were  so  distant  and  troubled,  and  seemed  not  even 
to  like  me  —  though  I  felt  sure  you  loved  me.  I 
had  thought  you  were  going  to  tell  me,  and  I'd  have 
accepted  —  yes,  for  the  money  —  though  I  liked  you 
so  much.  Why,  when  I  first  met  you  in  that  mine 
and  thought  you  were  a  workman,  I'm  not  sure  I 
wouldn't  have  married  you  if  you  had  asked  me. 
But  it  was  different  again  when  I  found  out  about 
you.  And  that  day  in  the  woods  I  thought  some 
thing  had  come  between  us.  Only  after  dinner  you 
seemed  kinder,  and  I  knew  at  once  you  thought 
better  of  me,  and  might  even  seek  me  —  I  knew  it 
in  the  way  a  woman  knows  things  she  doesn't  know 
at  all.  I  went  into  the  library  with  a  candle  to  look 
into  the  mirror,  almost  sure  you  were  going  to  come. 
Then  I  heard  your  steps  and  I  was  so  glad  —  but  it 


THE    SPENDERS  495 

wasn't  you — I'd  been  mistaken  again — you  still  dis 
liked  me.  I  was  so  disappointed  and  hurt  and  heart 
sick,  and  he  kissed  me  and  soothed  me.  And  after 
that  directly  I  sa\v  through  him,  and  I  knew  I  truly 
did  love  you  just  as  I'd  wanted  to  love  the  man 
who  would  be  my  husband  —  only  all  that  nonsense 
about  money  that  had  been  dinned  into  me  so  long 
kept  me  from  seeing  it  at  first.  But  I  was  sure 
you  didn't  care  for  me  when  they  talked  so  about 
you,  and  that  —  you  never  did  care  for  her,  did  you 
-  you  couldn't  have  cared  for  her,  could  you? — and 
yet,  after  that  night,  I'd  such  a  queer  little  feeling  as 
if  you  had  come  for  me,  and  had  seen  —  " 

"  Surely  a  gentleman  never  sees  anything  he 
wasn't  meant  to  see." 

"  I'm  so  glad  —  I  should  have  been  so 
ashamed  —  " 

They  were  still  a  moment,  while  he  stroked  her 
hair. 

"  They'll  be  turning  in  early  to-night,  having  to 
get  up  to-morrow  and  preach  sermons  —  what  a 
dreary  place  heaven  must  be  compared  with  this!  " 

She  sat  up  quickly. 

"  Oh,  I'd  forgotten.  How  awful  it  is.  Isn't  it 
awful  ?  " 

"  It  will  soon  be  over." 

"  But  think  of  my  people,  and  what's  expected  of 
me  —  think  of  Mr.  Shepler." 

"  Shepler's  doing  some  hard  thinking  for  himself 
by  this  time." 

"  Really,  you're  a  dreadful  person  —  " 


496  THE   SPENDERS 

There  was  a  knock. 

"  The  cabman  outside,  sir,  says  how  long  is  he 
to  wait,  sir?  " 

"  Tell  him  to  wait  all  night  if  I  don't  come;  tell 
him  if  he  moves  off  that  spot  I'll  have  his  license 
taken  away.  Tell  him  I'm  the  mayor's  brother." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  And,  Jarvis,  who's  in  the  house  besides  you?  " 

"  Miss  Briggs,  the  maid,  sir  —  but  she's  just 
ready  to  go  out,  sir." 

"  Stop  her  —  say  Miss  Milbrey  wishes  to  ask 
a  favour  of  her;  and  Jarvis." 

"Yes,  sir!" 

"  Go  put  on  that  neat  black  street  coat  of  yours 
that  fits  you  so  beautifully  in  the  back,  and  a  purple 
cravat,  and  your  shiny  hat,  and  wait  for  us  with 
Briggs.  We  shall  want  you  in  a  moment." 

"Yes,  Mr.  Bines." 

She  looked  at  him  wonderingly. 

"  We  need  two  witnesses,  you  know.  I  learned 
that  from  Oldaker  just  now." 

"  But  do  give  me  a  moment,  everything  is  all  so 
whirling  and  hazy." 

"  Yes,  I  know  —  like  the  solar  system  in  its  neb 
ulous  state.  Well,  hurry  and  make  those  worlds 
take  shape.  I  can  give  you  sixty  seconds  to  find 
that  I'm  the  North  Star.  Ach!  I  have  the  Doctor 
von  Herzlich  been  ge-speaking  with  —  come,  come! 
What's  the  use  of  any  more  delay?  I've  wasted 
nearly  three  hours  here  now,  dilly-dallying  along. 
But  then,  a  woman  never  does  know  her  own  mind. 


THE    SPENDERS  497 

Put  a  tiling  before  her  —  all  as  plain  as  the  multi 
plication  table  —  and  she  must  use  up  just  so  much 
good  time  telling  a  man  that  he's  crazy  —  and  shed 
ding  tears  because  he  won't  admit  that  two  times 
two  are  thirty-seven."  She  was  silent  and  motionless 
for  another  five  minutes,  thinking  intently.  "  Come, 
time's  up." 

She  arose. 

"  I'm  ready.  I  shall  marry  you,  if  you  think  I'm 
the  woman  to  help  you  in  that  big,  new  life  of 
yours.  They  meant  me  not  to  know  about  Fred's 
marriage  until  afterward." 

He  kissed  her. 

"  I  feel  so  rested  and  quiet  now,  as  if  I'd  taken 
down  a  big  old  gate  and  let  the  peace  rush  in  on 
me.  I'm  sure  it's  right.  I'm  sure  I  can  help  you." 

She  picked  up  her  hat  and  gloves. 

"  Now  I'll  go  bathe  my  eyes  and  fix  my  hair." 

"  I  can't  let  you  out  of  my  sight,  yet.  I'm 
incredulous.  Perhaps  in  seventy-five  or  eighty 
years  — 

"  I  thought  you  were  so  sure." 

"  While  I  can  reach  you,  yes." 

She  gave  a  low,  delicious  little  laugh.  She 
reached  both  arms  up  around  him,  pulled  down  his 
head  and  kissed  him. 

"There  —  boy  !" 

She  took  up  the  hat  again. 

"  I'll  be  down  in  a  moment." 

"  I'll  be  up  in  three,  if  you're  not." 

When  she  had  gone  he  picked  up  an  envelope  and 
put  a  bill  inside. 


498  THE   SPENDERS 

"  Jarvis,"  he  called. 

The  butler  came  up  from  below,  dressed  for  the 
street. 

"  Jarvis,  put  this  envelope  in  the  inside  of  that 
excellent  black  coat  of  yours  and  hand  it  —  after 
ward  —  to  the  gentleman  we're  going  to  do  business 
with." 

"Yes,  Mr.  Bines." 

<rAnd  put  your  cravat  down  in  the  back,  Jarvis 
—  it  makes  you  look  excited  the  way  it  is  now." 

"  Yes,  sir;   thank  you,  sir!  " 

"  Is  Briggs  ready?  " 

"  She's  waiting,  sir." 

"  Go  out  and  get  in  the  carriage,  both  of  you." 

"Yes,  sir!" 

He  stood  in  the  hallway  waiting  for  her.  It  was 
a  quarter-past  ten.  In  another  moment  she  rustled 
softly  down  to  him. 

"  I'm  trusting  so  much  to  you,  and  you're  trust 
ing  so  much  to  me.  It's  such  a  rash  step !  " 

"  Must  I  —  " 

"  No,  I'm  going.  Couldn't  we  stop  and  take  Aunt 
Cornelia  ?  " 

"  Aunt  Cornelia  won't  have  a  chance  to  worry 
about  this  until  it's  all  over.  We'll  stop  there  then, 
if  you  like." 

"  We'll  try  Doctor  Prendle,  then.  He's  almost 
sure  to  be  in." 

"  It  won't  make  any  difference  if  he  isn't.  We'll 
find  one.  Those  horses  are  rested.  They  can  go 
all  night  if  they  must." 


THE    SPENDERS 


499 


"  I  have  Grandmother  Loekermann's  wedding- 
ring  —  of  course  you  didn't  fetch  one.  Trust  a 
man  to  forget  anything  of  importance." 

His  grasp  of  her  hand  during  the  ride  did  not 
relax. 


CHAPTER   XLI. 


MRS.  VAN  GEIST  came  flustering  out  to  the 
carriage. 

"  You  and  Briggs  may  get  out  here,  Jar- 
vis.     There,  that's  for  you,  and  that's  for  Briggs  — 
and  thank  you  both  very  much !  " 

"Child,  child!    what  does  it  mean?" 

"  Mr.  Bines  is  my  husband,  Miitterchen,  and 
we're  leaving  for  the  West  in  the  morning." 

The  excitement  did  not  abate  for  ten  minutes 
or  so. 

"  And  do  say  something  cheerful,  dear,"  pleaded 
Avice,  at  parting. 

"  You  mad  child  —  I  was  always  afraid  you 
might  do  something  like  this;  but  I  TC'///  say  I'm  not 
altogether  sure  you've  acted  foolishly." 

"  Thank  you,  you  dear  old  Miitterchen !  and 
you'll  come  to  see  us  —  you  shall  see  how  happy 
I  can  be  with  this  —  this  boy  —  this  Lochinvar, 
Junior  —  I'm  sure  Mrs.  Lochinvar  always  lived 
happily  ever  after." 

Mrs.  Van  Geist  kissed  them  both. 
500 


THE    SPENDERS  501 

"  Back  to  Thirty-seventh  Street,  driver." 

"  I  shall  want  you  at  seven-thirty  sharp,  to 
morrow  morning,"  he  said,  as  they  alighted.  "  Will 
you  be  here,  sure?  " 

"  Sure,  boss !  " 

"  You'll  make  another  one  of  those  if  you're  on 
time." 

The  driver  faced  the  bill  toward  the  nearest 
street-light  and  scanned  it.  Then  he  placed  it  ten 
derly  in  the  lining  of  his  hat,  and  said,  fervently : 

"I'll  be  here,  gent!" 

"  My  trunks,"  Avice  reminded  him. 

"  And,  driver,  send  an  express  wagon  at  seven 
sharp.  Do  you  understand,  now?" 

"  Sure,  gent,  I'll  have  it  here  at  seven,  and  be  here 
at  seven-thirty." 

They  went  in. 

"  You've  sent  Briggs  off,  and  I've  all  that  packing 
and  unpacking  to  do." 

'  You  have  a  husband  who  is  handy  at  those 
things." 

They  went  up  to  her  room  where  two  trunks 
yawned  open. 

Under  her  directions  and  with  her  help  he  took 
out  the  light  summer  things  and  replaced  them 
with  heavier  gowns,  stout  shoes,  golf-capes,  and 
caps. 

"  We'll  be  up  on  the  Bitter  Root  ranch  this  sum 
mer,  and  you'll  need  heavy  things,"  he  had  told 
her. 

Sometimes    he    packed    clumsily,    and    she    was 


502  THE    SPENDERS 

obliged  to  do  his  work  over.  In  these  intervals 
he  studied  with  interest  the  big  old  room  and  her 
quaint  old  sampler  worked  in  coloured  worsteds 
that  had  faded  to  greys  and  dull  browns :  "  La 
Nuit  Porte  Conseti" 

"  Grandma  Loekermann  did  it  at  the  convent, 
ages  ago,"  she  told  him. 

"  What  a  cautious  young  thing  she  must  have 
been!" 

She  leaned  against  his  shoulder. 

"  But  she  eloped  with  her  true  love,  young  An- 
nekje  Van  Schoule;  left  the  home  in  Hickory 
Street  one  night,  and  went  far  away,  away  up 
beyond  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street, 
somewhere,  and  then  wrote  them  about  it." 

"And  left  the  sampler?" 

"  She  had  her  husband  —  she  didn't  need  any 
old  sampler  after  that  —  Le  mariage  porte  conseil, 
aussi,  monsieur.  And  no\v,  you've  married  your 
wife  with  her  wedding-ring,  that  came  from  Holland 
years  and  years  ago." 

It  was  after  midnight  when  they  began  to  pack. 
When  they  finished  it  was  nearly  four. 

She  had  laid  out  a  dark  dress  for  the  journey, 
but  he  insisted  that  she  put  it  in  a  suit-case,  and 
wear  the  one  she  had  on. 

"  I  shouldn't  know  you  in  any  other  —  and  it's 
the  colour  of  your  eyes.  I  want  that  colour  all  over 
the  place." 

"  But  we  shall  be  travelling." 

"  In  our  own  car.    That  car  has  been  described  in 


THE    SPENDERS  503 

the  public  prints  as  a  '  suite  of  palatial  apartmems 
with  all  modern  conveniences.'  ' 

"  I  forgot." 

"  We  shall  be  going  West  like  the  old  '49-ers, 
seeking  adventure  and  gold." 

"  Did  they  go  in  their  private  cars?  " 

"  Some  of  them  went  in  rolling  six-horse  Con 
cords,  and  some  walked,  and  some  of  them  pushed 
their  baggage  across  in  little  hand-carts,  but  they 
had  fun  at  it  —  and  we  shall  have  to  work  as  hard 
when  we  get  there." 

"Dear  me!  And  I'm  so  tired  already.  I  feel 
quite  done  up." 

She  threw  herself  on  the  wide  divan,  and  he  fixed 
pillows  under  her  head. 

"  You  boy !  I'm  glad  it's  all  over.  Let's  rest  a 
moment." 

He  leaned  back  by  her,  and  drew  her  head  on  to 
his  arm. 

"  I'm  glad,  too.  It's  the  hardest  day's  work  I 
ever  did.  Are  you  comfortable?  Rest." 

"  It's  so  good,"  she  murmured,  nestling  on  his 
shoulder. 

"  Uncle  Peter  took  his  honeymoon  in  a  big  wagon 
drawn  by  a  mule  team,  two  hundred  miles  over  the 
Placerville  and  Red  Dog  Trail  —  over  the  moun 
tains  from  California  to  Nevada.  But  he  says  he 
never  had  so  happy  a  time." 

"  He's  an  old  dear !  I'll  kiss  him  —  how  is  it 
you  say  —  '  good  and  plenty.'  Did  our  Uncle  Peter 
elope,  too?  " 


504  THE    SPENDERS 

He  chuckled. 

"  Not  exactly.  It  was  more  like  abduction  com 
plicated  with  assault  and  battery.  Uncle  Peter  is 
pretty  direct  in  his  methods.  The  young  lady's 
family  thought  she  could  do  better  with  a  bloated 
capitalist  who  owned  three-eighths  of  a  saw-mill. 
But  Uncle  Peter  and  she  thought  she  couldn't.  So 
Uncle  Peter  had  to  lick  her  father  and  two  brothers 
before  he  could  get  her  away.  He  would  have 
licked  the  purse-proud  rival,  too,  but  the  rival  ran 
into  the  saw-mill  he  owned  the  three-eighths  of,  and 
barricaded  the  whole  eight-eighths — the  five-eighths 
that  didn't  belong  to  him  at  all,  you  understand  — 
and  then  he  threatened  through  a  chink  to  shoot 
somebody  if  Uncle  Peter  didn't  go  off  about  his 
business.  So  Uncle  Peter  went,  not  wanting  any 
unnecessary  trouble.  I've  always  suspected  he  was 
a  pretty  ready  scrapper  in  those  clays,  but  the  poor 
old  fellow's  getting  a  bit  childish  now.  with  all  this 
trouble  about  losing  the  money,  and  the  hard  time 
he  had  in  the  snow  last  winter.  By  the  way,  I 
forgot  to  ask,  and  it's  almost  too  late  now,  but  do 
you  like  cats?  " 

"  I  adore  them  —  aren't  kittens  the  dearest?' 

"  Well  —  you're  healthy  —  and  your  nose  doesn't 
really  fall  below  the  specifications,  though  it  doesn't 
promise  that  you're  any  too  sensible,  —  but  if  you 
can  make  up  for  it  by  your  infatuation  for  cats, 
perhaps  it  will  be  all  right.  Of  course  I  couldn't 
keep  you,  you  know,  if  you  weren't  very  fond  of 
cats,  because  Uncle  Peter'd  raise  a  row  - 


THE    SPENDERS  505 

She  was  quite  still,  and  he  noted  from  the  change 
in  her  soft  breathing  that  she  slept.  With  his  free 
hand  he  carefully  shook  out  a  folded  steamer  rug 
and  drew  it  over  her. 

For  an  hour  he  watched  her,  feeling  the  arm  on 
which  she  lay  growing  numb.  He  reviewed  the  day 
c>nd  the  crowded  night.  He  could  do  something 
after  all.  Among  other  things,  now,  he  would 
drop  a  little  note  to  Higbee  and  add  the  news 
of  his  marriage  as  a  postscript.  She  was  actually 
his  wife.  How  quickly  it  had  come.  His  heart 
was  full  of  a  great  love  for  her,  but  he  could  not 
quite  repress  the  pride  in  his  achievement  —  and 
Shepler  had  not  been  sure  until  he  was  poor! 

He  lost  consciousness  himself  for  a  little  while. 

When  he  awoke  the  cold  light  of  the  morning 
was  stealing  in.  He  was  painfully  cramped,  and 
chilled  from  the  open  window.  From  outside  came 
the  loud  chattering  of  sparrows,  and  far  away  he 
could  hear  wagons  as  they  rattled  across  a  street 
of  Belgian  blocks  from  asphalt  to  asphalt.  The 
light  had  been  late  in  coming,  and  he  could  see  a 
sullen  grey  sky,  full  of  darker  clouds. 

Above  the  chiffonier  he  could  see  the  ancient 
sampler. 

"  La  Nuit  Porte  Conseil."    It  was  true. 

In  the  cold,  pitiless  light  of  the  morning  a  sudden 
sickness  of  doubting  seized  him.  She  would  awake 
and  reproach  him  bitterly  for  coercing  her.  She 
had  been  right,  the  night  before,  —  it  was  mad 
ness.  They  had  talked  afterward  so  feverishly,  as 


506  THE    SPENDERS 

if  to  forget  their  situation.     Now  she  would  face 
it  coldly  after  the  sleep. 

"  La  Nuit  Porte  Conseil."  Had  he  not  been  a 
fool?  And  he  loved  her  so.  He  would  have  her 
anyway  —  no  matter  what  she  said,  now. 

She  stirred,  and  her  wide-open  eyes  were  staring 
up  at  him  —  staring  with  hurt,  troubled  wonder. 
The  amazement  in  them  grew  —  she  could  not 
understand. 

He  stopped  breathing.  His  embrace  of  her  re 
laxed. 

And  then  he  saw  remembrance  —  recognition  — 
welcome  —  and  there  blazed  into  her  eyes  such  a 
look  of  whole  love  as  makes  men  thrill  to  all 
good;  such  a  look  as  makes  them  know  they 
are  men,  and  dare  all  great  deeds  to  show  it.  Like 
a  sunrise,  it  flooded  her  face  with  dear,  wondrous 
beauties,  —  and  still  she  looked,  silent,  motionless, 
-  in  an  ecstasy  of  pure  realisation.  Then  her  arms 
closed  about  his  neck  with  a  swift  little  rushing,  and 
he  —  still  half-doubting,  still  curious  —  felt  him 
self  strained  to  her.  Still  more  closely  she  clung, 
putting  out  with  her  intensity  all  his  misgiving. 

She  sought  his  lips  with  her  own  —  eager, 
pressing. 

"Kiss  me  —  kiss  me  —  kiss  me!  Oh,  it's  all 
true  —  all  true !  My  best-loved  dream  has  come  all 
true !  I  have  rested  so  in  your  arms.  I  never  knew 
rest  before.  I  can't  remember  when  I  haven't 
awakened  to  doubt,  and  worry,  and  heart-sickness. 
And  now  it's  peace  —  dear,  dear,  dearest  dear,  for 
ever  and  ever  and  ever." 


THE   SPENDERS  507 

They  sat  up. 

"  Now  we  shall  go  —  get  me  away  quickly." 

It  was  nearly  seven.  Outside  the  sky  was  still 
all  gloom. 

In  the  rush  of  her  reassurance  he  had  forgotten 
his  arm.  It  hung  limp  from  his  shoulder. 

"  It  was  cramped." 

"  And  you  didn't  move  it?  " 

They  beat  it  and  kneaded  it  gaily  together,  until 
the  ringers  were  full  of  the  rushing  blood  and  able 
again  to  close  warmly  over  her  own  little  hand. 

"  Now  go,  and  let  me  get  ready.  I  won't  be 
long." 

He  went  below  to  the  library,  and  in  the  dim 
grey  light  picked  up  a  book,  "  The  Delights  of  Del 
icate  Eating."  He  tried  another,  "  101  Sand 
wiches."  The  next  was  "  Famous  Epicures  of  the 
1 7th  Century."  On  the  floor  was  her  diary.  He 
placed  it  on  the  table.  He  heard  her  call  him  from 
the  stairs : 

"  Bring  me  up  that  ring  from  the  table,  please !  " 

He  went  up  and  handed  it  to  her  through  the 
narrowly  opened  door. 

As  he  went  down  the  stairs  he  heard  the  bell 
ring  somewhere  below,  and  went  to  the  door. 


The  two  trunks  were  down  and  out. 

"  They're  to  go  on  this  car,  attached  to  the  Chi 
cago  Express."  He  wrote  the  directions  on  one  of 
his  cards  and  paid  the  man. 

At  seven-thirty  the  bell  rang  again.  The  cab 
man  was  there. 


5o8  THE   SPENDERS 

"  Seven-thirty,  gent!" 

"Avice!" 

"  I'm  coming.  And  there  are  two  bags  I  wish 
you'd  get  from  my  room."  He  let  her  pass  him  and 
went  up  for  them. 

She  went  into  the  library  and,  taking  up  the  diary, 
tore  out  a  sheet,  marked  heavily  upon  it  with  a 
pencil  around  the  passage  she  had  read  the  evening 
before,  and  sealed  it  in  an  envelope.  She  addressed 
it  to  her  father,  and  laid  it,  with  a  paper-weight  on 
it,  upon  "  The  Delights  of  Delicate  Eating,"  where 
he  would  be  sure  to  find  it. 

The  book  itself  she  placed  on  the  wood  laid  ready 
in  the  grate  to  light,  touched  a  match  to  the 
crumpled  paper  underneath  and  put  up  the  blower. 
She  stood  waiting  to  see  that  the  fire  \vould  burn. 

Over  the  mantel  from  its  yellow  canvas  looked 
above  her  head  the  humourously  benignant  eyes  of 
old  Annekje  Van  Schoule,  who  had  once  removed 
from  Maspeth  Kill  on  Long  Island  to  New  Haarlem 
on  the  Island  of  Manhattan,  and  carried  there, 
against  her  father's  will,  the  yellow-haired  girl  he 
had  loved.  His  face  now  seemed  to  be  pretending 
unconsciousness  of  the  rashly  acted  scenes  he  had 
witnessed  —  lest,  if  he  betrayed  his  consciousness, 
he  should  be  forced,  in  spite  of  himself,  to  dis 
close  his  approval  —  a  thing  not  fitting  for  an 
elderly,  dignified  Dutch  burgher  to  do. 

"Avice!" 

"Coming!" 

She  took  up  a  little  package  she  had  brought 
with  her  and  went  out  to  meet  him. 


THE    SPENDERS  509 

"  There's  one  errand  to  do,"  she  said,  as  they 
entered  the  carriage,  "  but  it's  on  our  way.  Have 
him  go  up  Madison  Avenue  and  deliver  this." 

She  showed  him  the  package  addressed :  "  Mr. 
Rulon  Shepler,  Personal." 

"  And  this,"  she  said,  giving  him  an  unsealed 
note.  "  Read  it,  please!" 

He  read  : 

"  DEAR  RULON  SHEPLER  :  —  I  am  sure  you  know 
women  too  well  to  have  thought  I  loved  you  as  a 
wife  should  love  her  husband.  And  I  know  your 
bigness  too  well  to  believe  you  will  feel  harshly 
toward  me  for  deciding  that  I  could  not  marry  you. 
I  could  of  course  consistently  attribute  my  change 
to  consideration  for  you.  I  should  have  been  very 
little  comfort  to  you.  If  I  should  tell  you  just  the 
course  I  had  mapped  out  for  myself  —  just  what 
latitude  I  proposed  to  claim  —  I  am  certain  you 
would  agree  with  me  that  I  have  done  you  an 
inestimable  favour. 

"  Yet  I  have  not  changed  because  I  do  not  love 
you,  but  because  I  do  love  some  one  else  with  all 
my  heart;  so  that  I  claim  no  credit  except  for  an 
entirely  consistent  selfishness.  But  do  try  to  believe, 
at  the  same  time,  that  my  own  selfishness  has  been 
a  kindness  to  you.  I  send  you  a  package  with  this 
hasty  letter,  and  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  shall 
remain  —  and  am  now  for  the  first  time  — 
"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  AVTCE   MlLBREY   BlNES. 


510  THE    SPENDERS 

"  P.  S.  I  should  have  preferred  to  wait  and 
acquaint  you  with  my  change  of  intention  before 
marrying,  but  my  husband's  plans  were  made  and 
he  would  not  let  me  delay.'' 

He  sealed  the  envelope,  placed  it  securely  under 
the  cord  that  bound  the  package,  and  their  driver 
delivered  it  to  the  man  who  opened  Shepler's  door. 

As  their  train  emerged  from  the  cut  at  Spuyten 
Duyvil  and  sped  to  the  north  along  the  Hudson, 
the  sun  blazed  forth. 

"  There,  boy,  —  I  knew  the  sun  must  shine  to 
day." 

They  had  finished  their  breakfast.  One-half  of 
the  pink  roses  were  on  the  table,  and  one  from  the 
other  half  was  in  her  hair. 

"  I  ordered  the  sun  turned  on  at  just  this  point," 
replied  her  husband,  with  a  large  air.  "  I  wanted 
you  to  see  the  last  of  that  town  under  a  cloud,  so 
you  might  not  be  homesick  so  soon." 

"  You  don't  know  me.  You  don't  know  what 
a  good  wife  I  shall  be." 

"  It  takes  nerve  to  reach  up  for  a  strange  support 
and  then  kick  your  environment  out  from  under 
you  —  as  Doctor  von  Herzlich  would  have  said 
if  he'd  happened  to  think  of  it." 

"  But  you  shall  see  how  I'll  help  you  with  your 
work;  I  was  capable  of  it  all  the  time." 

"  But  I  had  to  make  you.  I  had  to  pick  you  up 
just  as  I  did  that  first  time,  and  again  down  in  the 
mine  —  and  you  were  frightened  because  you  knew 
this  time  I  wouldn't  let  you  go." 


THE    SPENDERS  511 

"  Only  half-afraid  you  wouldn't  —  the  other  half 
I  was  afraid  you  would.  They  got  all  mixed  up  — 
I  don't  know  which  was  worse." 

"  Well,  I  admit  I  foozled  my  approach  on  that 
copper  stock  —  but  I  won  you  —  really  my  win 
nings  in  Wall  Street  are  pretty  dazzling  after  all, 
for  a  man  who  didn't  know  the  ropes ;  —  there's  a 
mirror  directly  back  of  you,  Mrs.  Bines,  if  you  wish 
to  look  at  them  —  with  a  pink  rose  over  that  kissy 
place  just  at  their  temple." 

She  turned  and  looked,  pretending  to  be  quite 
unimpressed. 

"  I  always  was  capable  of  it,  I  tell  you,  — 
boy!" 

"  What  hurt  me  worst  that  night,  it  showed  you 
could  love  some  one  —  you  did  have  a  heart  —  but 
you  couldn't  love  me." 

She  did  not  seem  to  hear  at  first,  nor  to  compre 
hend  when  she  went  back  over  his  words.  Then 
she  stared  at  him  in  sudden  amazement. 

He  saw  his  blunder  and  looked  foolish. 

"  I  see  —  thank  you  for  saying  what  you  did  last 
night  —  and  you  didn't  mind  —  you  came  to  me 
anyway,  in  spite  of  that." 

She  arose,  and  would  have  gone  around  the  table 
to  him,  but  he  met  her  with  open  arms. 

"Oh,  you  boy!    you  do  love  me,  —  you  do!" 

"  I  must  buy  you  one  of  those  nice,  shiny  black 
ear-trumpets  at  the  first  stop.  You  can't  have  been 
hearing  at  all  well.  .  .  .  See,  sweetheart,  —  out 
across  the  river.  That's  where  our  big  West  is,  over 


512  THE    SPENDERS 

that  way  —  isn't  it  fresh  and  green  and  beautiful? 
—  and  how  fast  you're  going  to  it  —  you  and  your 
husband.  I  believe  it's  going  to  be  a  good  game  .  .  . 
for  us  both  .  .  .  my  love.  .  ." 


THE    END. 


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